REVIEW: Lifeguard—Crowd Can Talk/Dressed In Trenches (2023)

Why have one band, when you can have three?

When I got into Sharp Pins last year, I soon realised Kai Slater was also in Dwaal Troupe. I didn’t pay it too much mind at the time, but eventually checked their stuff and, damn, their stuff is good too. And then I figured I should also, in that case, see what Kai’s other band, Lifeguard were about. Well, dayum, I felt the need to buy their album n’all.

It appears that Kai Slater has a fine selection of musical hats, and this is his angular punk hat that he tries on whenever he wants to rock out and be all monochrome and moody. Fair.

As a result, it’s not his most immediate work, and is a bit of stylistic whiplash after the endlessly pretty jangle of his other projects. This has more in common with stern-faced 80s post-punk, but is impeccably observed, treading the line between propulsive noise and stark melody.

Perhaps an important thing to note is this isn’t an album as such, but two EPs smooshed together as a means of getting the band’s material into shops. Having signed to Matador, this one is refreshingly easy to source, and presumably will make the loooong-awaited upcoming Lifeguard debut album proper (Ripped And Torn, out next month) also an easy one to order.

Top picks here? One I keep coming back to is I Know I Know, the second track off the Crowd Can Talk EP of 2022. It brings to mind an alternate path for The Cure, had they gone rockier in 1980/1, and ditched the synths. There’s a feral energy to it that I can’t wait to experience live. I can see the sweat beads flying off the drummer already.

There aren’t really any weak songs, either—something that vital new bands always seem to have going for them. A change of pace in Fifty Seven still feels as engaging. I just wish Steve Albini had lived long enough to record them. They sure are flagrantly influenced by his sound, in all the best ways, and already have the sound down, but still: you do wonder.

As for the other EP covered on this pairing, Dressed In Trenches, it also has some bruising moments. That intro on 17/18 Lovesong (a reference to their age at the time?) is as thrilling a kick-off for a song as you could wish for.

But the first track off the new album, It Will Get Worse, suggests we’re in for a more melodic approach, more dynamism. Observing Kai Slater blossoming into a generational talent is proving to be a thrilling adventure.