The Poison Arrows: Crime and Soda

The Poison Arrows are one of the many bands that bubble underneath the ever-widening surfaces of the creative world. Victims in the deluge of new music, while none of us can be all-knowing across this landscape, sadly The Poison Arrows have been a band that have dodged our ears for quite some time; to the point where it feels criminal on our part.

Formed in 2006, the Chicago three-piece, vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist Justin Sinkovich (ex-Thumbnail, Atombombpocketknife), bassist Patrick Morris (ex-Don Cabellero) and drummer Adam Reach (Pink Avalanche) have released five albums over two stints which saw them reconvene in 2015 for the release of their third album, No Known Note. Following last year’s excellent War Regards (again, criminally overlooked throughout these pages at the time), the band quickly follow it up with Crime and Soda.

With Reach now residing in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and Sinkovich spending his time between Chicago and Galena, the band managed to reunite with long-time collaborated Greg Norman at Electrical Audio to record Crime and Soda.

Noise Pollution: In Conversation with FACS’ Brian Case

Exploding with Morris and Reach’s nebulous rhythms and Sinkovich’s evocative sing-speak delivery akin to FACS and Girls Against Boys (ironically, Brian Case and Scott McCloud have featured throughout the band’s past works), Crime and Soda is yet another of the band’s releases which acts as a siren call to the underground and post-hardcore. A celebration under one roof, drawing from and tying together the sounds of one of the most celebrated periods in the history of independent music.

Beginning with Morris’ hooping bass lines that round up all the sonic shards from the band’s past recordings, with Mercurial Moments Erased, The Poison Arrows give us a snapshot of what’s to come, combining cerebral horsepower with musical dexterity.

With more punchy rhythm sections that shape up to Sinkovich’s clever wordplay (“We’re running a little late with the conversation rate”), The Joy Amber Scam bursts like a math-rock fever. And it spreads. On Consequences of Memory and Glassed by the Gilded Age we see The Poison Arrows taking post-hardcore to atmospherics climes, and injected with subtle political messaging, it’s the kind of abstract tone mastered by fellow collaborator, Case. This reaches climax on the title track, with a lyrical volley of wonderful snapshots that leave you scrambling for equilibrium (“Weaponise until you dry up the well / Digitise until you think in parallels/ Dehumise pushing us to the brink / Euthanise so we have a lot of time to think”).

Pile: All Fiction

As All These Kids leans into post-hardcore’s past with a good dose of Girls Against Boys reverence, the Don Cab-inspired tangled mess of Asynchronous Empire of Isotopes sees The Poison Arrows continue their mind-bending charge across these glorious terrains. (“Walk the highwire above the Empire”).

Like FACS and Protomartyr, The Poison Arrows are the kind of band where high-watermark moments coexist to a bigger story, and Crime and Soda is the latest chapter in it. While sonically it buffs out the bumps and scrapes of their past, lyrically Sinkovich hasn’t sounded more urgent and assured. The poetic comedown of closing track, Sharp Young Teeth, perhaps best encapsulating this, (“Seize the right to reminisce/ Catching up with those we miss”).

Again, The Poison Arrows find new ways to deliver their message in yet another creative windfall for a band that should be reaching far more people than they currently do.   

Crime and Soda is out now via Solid Brass Records. Purchase from Bandcamp.