Axis: Sova

Axis: Sova returns with Shampoo You, out November 16th via Drag City imprint, God? Records. Shampoo You is the latest Axis: Sova album, following 2015’s Early Surfand 2016’s Motor Earth. With each succession, the Axis sound shape morphs in subtle yet definitive ways; now, with Shampoo You, the impact is unprecedentedly direct and connective.  Stereogum have noted “They’re sleeker this time, more melodic and a little less hazy”. Take first single, “Dodger.”  It emerges from the reverberating chambers of its predecessors with expectedly scorched, punching guitars, before giving way to the unexpected: harmonized, crystalline vocals, put forward for immediate impact. Aboard a galloping waltz beat testing the structural integrity of its own mechanical limitations, “Dodger” lilts from its final big chorus into a weaving guitar confab, escalating and emoting into deeper, wordless territories of song.

Axis: Sova has always been a rock band, even when the “band” was just Brett Sova and his Roland TR66 Rhythm Arranger creating a surging maelstrom of reverberant fuzz, with guitars foregrounded and wailing at length, while beats distended the depths. Shampoo You sounds the arrival of the trio version – Sova with Tim Kaiser (guitar) and Jeremy Freeze (bass) — in trademark Axis style: relentless tempo with distorted, interlocking guitar concussions, and vocals that howl of other worldly mutation. It’s the first Axis: Sova album entirely performed and recorded live to tape as a three piece. The amusement of rock-making turned thrillingly alive, they’ve honed in on a sleek transport for their new sounds, with tightly conceived power-punk and classic pop touches creating memorably melodic (and harmonic) contours. Head down to the scar-wash and let Axis: Sova Shampoo You!