Loading details…
about this album
"If the new Is/Is record "III" sounds somewhat familiar to you when you hear it for the first time this week, it may be because many of the tunes have already been made widely available for early listening. We have been enjoying “Hate Smile,” “Lie Awake,” and “Bomb Me” for much of this spring already. III’s release is still a welcome development though, since not only does it offer an additional grip of tunes, it also coheres them into a singular format – which for me anyway is always the preferred method of listening. And while the pre-released singles are undoubtedly some of III’s best, the rest of the record has a great deal to offer as well. “Loose Skin” features the trio about as upbeat (and hook-friendly) as we have seen them, though lyrically they are still pretty dark (“you can’t pretend forever / this double in the mirror / has got to tell you the truth”). Stylistically the band stays pretty true to its core sound, which is informed heavily by both post punk and grunge (i.e. lots of guitar distortion, disaffected vocal delivery, et al) though “Untitled One” and “Untitled Two” take the record in an unexpected ambient drone direction. The final two tracks, “Sun Tsunami” and “Save Your Savior” also notably take on a bit of druggy, psychedelic flavor that shows the bands’ influences go much further back than the 80’s and 90’s. By experimenting with a variety of styles, Sarah Rose (guitar, vox), Sarah Nienaber (bass) and Annie May (drums) have crafted III into and exc
