After two years of radio silence, Montreal via Victoria duo Freak Heat Waves welcomed in the summer with an announcement of Zap The Planet. Due out September 4th through Telephone Explosion Records, it will be their third LP and first since 2018’s success, Beyond Xxxl.
“Let It Go” begins with sparkling and arpeggiating synth chords paired with a drum machine creating an immediate danceable disco track. As a scratching turntable joins the mix, the vocals add a layer of dark, house party vibes. As the track continues to add colour to this dark party between starting and stopping synthesizers along with Steven Lind’s deep-diving vocals, “Let It Go” embodies a feeling of an unsettling search through this bioluminescent crowd of smoke and sweat.
Compiling an album from several sessions at different locations using avant-garde recording techniques is something that artists are going to have to become accustomed to for the foreseeable future. Some can view this as an obstacle and others, like the Freaks, can find pleasures in the peculiarities.
“Let It Go” arrives as the third and likely final single following “Nothing Lasts Forever” and “Dripping Visions” before the anticipated album release. Zap The Planet will consist of eight tracks that were forced to be recorded in alternative methods than previous releases.
While maintaining a similar sound to fellow British Columbia fan favourites Crack Cloud and Subject, the Freaks still find a way to separate themselves from the pack — sticking out like a sore thumb in the best way possible.
Through the three singles released thus far, the art-rock duo of Lind and Thomas Di Ninno continue to add variations to their collective sound, and “Let It Go” appears to stay right on track — which will undoubtedly prove to be a turn-around track on Zap The Planet.
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