Tuff Love - Dregs EP

The EP builds upon the exuberance of the band’s prior releases: the sold-out Junk and Dross EPs as well as the limited edition Record Store Day 7” single “Groucho”. Those seeking buoyant melodies will find themselves easily absorbed by these five whirlwind tracks. Clocking in at a lean 18 minutes, these songs waste no time in finding solid footing and taking off at full gallop.

Tuff Love kick things off with the dishevelled joy of “Duke”, which serves as the EP’s first single and combines giddy distortion with introspective lyrics. “Crocodile” is the shortest of the tracks, an almost aggressively shambling melody softened by sunlit vocals.

Regrets are wrapped in jangly trappings in “Threads,” which buries its harmonies deep under layers of distortion and a barbed-wire bass line. The woozy, low-key “Amphibian” surfaces for air with a shuffling groove and plucky attitude. Featuring the clearest vocal delivery on the EP, “Carbon” offers a mid-song tempo shift before drawing to a hypnotic close.

Dregs creates an atmosphere where catharsis is a fuzzed-out harmony sung over coltish, punchy pop. Tuff Love’s pleasures are immense and Dregs is no doubt far more prismatic in sound than its slyly sludgy title would suggest.