The recording project led by Brooklyn‘s Melody Stolpp, Sweetbreads has shared a couple of singles in recent months as they prepare to release new full-length Punisher later this year. First came ‘Punisher of Love’, a song we described as “an exploration of [the] contemporary rat race, delving into the weight of expectations and self-sabotage which results,” before double single Ben / Satisfy this June. “Displaying both the storytelling and sincerity which has become a staple of the project,” we wrote of ‘Ben’, “the song is decidedly bittersweet, yearning for the titular character with equal parts bright fondness and melancholic longing.” If any throughline could be located across these tracks, it was that of conflict. The tension between hopes for an imagined future and the less than ideal reality, and the sometimes reluctant will to persist in spite of this discouragement.
With Punisher coming this September, Sweetbreads are back with brand new single ‘Open Mic’, and the song very much continues this struggle between hope and disallusionment. As the title suggests, this time the focus is on the artistic pursuit, and how a desire to create can often seem insignificant or futile amid the distracted present. “I was sitting in this dingy dive bar waiting hours for my turn to play one song amongst a sea of people who were there for the same reason,” Stolpp explains. “I felt kind of pathetic and self-involved chasing what seemed like a dying dream.” But more than a voicing of frustration, ‘Open Mic’ pushes deeper to meditate on the emotions underlying ambition and disappointment, and how we might show up for one another in order to better navigate the bumpy road.
Punisher will be released on the 25th September. ‘Open Mic’ is available from the usual places.