Chicago based trio Lifeguard—Asher Case, Isaac Lowenstein, and Kai Slater will put out their debut album “Ripped and Torn” in June, and lead single “It Will Get Worse” has firmly cemented the arrival of a new musical vanguard in the city. Lifeguard have been together since pre-COVID, when they were teens transforming Chicago’s youth DIY scene. Their two previous EPs, “Dressed in Trenches” and “Crowd Can Talk”, quickly established them as torchbearers of a storied, multi-generational musical legacy. Inspired by Television and Dredd Foole, “Ripped and Torn” is renaissance post-punk with a twist of anthemic, post-Y2K bombast. Lead single “It Will Get Worse” ought to be everyone else’s wake-up moment.
The song sounds like the Cleaners From Venus covering Pavement, as metallic, thrashing guitars vibrate through lo-fi, distorted hooks. And, truth be told, who wouldn’t want every song in existence to sound exactly like that? You better get hip to Lifeguard now; the moon is firmly in their sights.
The Fat Angel Sings 