The Lawrence Arms

Buttsweat And Tears EP

[4/5]



It’s been 10 years since Midwestern pop-punk heavyweights the Lawrence Arms formed like Voltron in the Chicago night. Buttsweat And Tears is the band’s first proper 7-inch, its name drawn from a decade-old plan to release a 7-inch titled Buttsweat And Tears. It would appear some congratulations are in order, boys: Besides fulfilling a long-unfulfilled goal involving bodily fluids and vinyl, Buttsweat also marks the band’s first release since 2006’s landmark Oh! Calcutta!, a high-water mark in the songwriting book of the Larry Arms. With some weighty expectations and only four songs to match them with, Buttsweat succeeds in adding some great new anthems to the band’s stacked back catalog.



While Oh! Calcutta! featured near-constant duel vocals from both bassist Brendan Kelly and guitarist Chris McCaughan, Buttsweat features songs that more discernibly belong to one or the other. Opener “Spit Shining Shit” is a Kelly-voiced rager that takes a straight-ahead punk-rock song and throws in some weird arrangement quirks which twist a familiar melody into something exciting and original, while McCaughan’s follow-up, “The Slowest Drink In The Saddest Bar On The Snowiest Day In The Greatest City” packs all the strength of his best contributions to 2003’s The Greatest Story Ever Told, adding an extra punch of vitriol and inventive lyrical wordplay. The Cormac McCarthy-referencing “The Redness In The West” is the EP’s stand-out, transitioning from a gentle country dirge into a full-forced double-time sing-along. Grab the digital version to hear “Demons”, a bonus track that’s certainly worthy of inclusion amongst these bangers. (FAT WRECK CHORDS) Sam Sutherland



GO DOWNLOAD: “The Redness In The West”