ALBUM REVIEW: Push – Sextile

Los Angeles post-punk band SEXTILE are back with their latest release Push, their first album since the tragic passing of original member Eddie Wuebben in 2019. Following a three-year break where members pursued other projects, the band made their return in 2022 with Cameron Michel joining on guitar and synths, all with the promise of releasing a record that, in their own words, is “serotonin-boosting” and goes “in a wilder direction.“

Those statements are immediately apparent from the start of the record. Opening with Contortion the band kick off with deep bass synths and catchy drum beats that transcend into a dark pop track with industrial vocals, and you find yourself transported to an underground setting where you’re at a rave with lights flashing and bodies pulsating with every beat. That style continues with No Fun which opens with dark yet funky synths with effects on the vocals as they repeat “tell me what to feel”. It’s a fascinating track and you’ll find yourself drawn in as you go into a trance-like state that leaves you both wanting to dance and work at the same time. Essentially, it wakes your brain up and you feel that serotonin that they promised to give you at the start.

With this album there tends to be two different styles, the one mentioned above where you find your brain pumped full of dopamine ready to dance or work, (or maybe both at the same time?), and then there’s the style that’s relatively calmer in comparison. It’s not strictly lo-fi but it’s the type of music that would be played in atmospheric videos of different environments; for example Crash is the perfect song to be played in a compilation of footage from a Cyberpunk setting where you can see different elements of a futuristic city with the bustling everyday life of individuals going on around you.

And then there’s the tracks that somehow combine the two styles where things start out calm but then shift into something more intense. Two standout moments of this are New York, which starts out with what sounds like a phone jingle before being hit by sudden loud drum and bass, and Imposter, which starts out sounding like dream-pop before shifting into a post-punk mash up of EDM that just works beautifully.

Push is a nicely compact album full of bass drops that are complimented by a punk attitude, perfect for whether you decide to put on a rave or decide to create a soundtrack for a Cyberpunk world. It just gets your brain going.  

Rating: 8/10

Push is out now via Sacred Bones.

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