Los Angeles trio Cheekface have returned today (Jan. 11) with their second album, Emphatically No., available now via New Professor. It was featured on Paste’s list of most anticipated albums of 2021, and it follows their 2019 album Therapy Island.
Every day feels like the confused, spinning Mr. Krabs meme, especially for millennials who continue to get screwed by every institution and have no choice but to Juul, ironically use TikTok and bake bread to remind themselves that they have arms. Cheekface’s Emphatically No. captures all these feelings of millennial dread with staggering precision. Self-aware, pointed and wildly goofy, Cheekface use U.K. post-punk and American indie-punk as a vehicle for their social commentary and self-deprecating one-liners. With fuzzy guitar solos (“Loyal Like Me”), feel-good hooks (“Best Life”), leisurely bass lines (“Wedding Guests”) and vocalist Greg Katz rattling off thoughts like “shouting fire at therapy and at Panda Express,” Cheekface are uniquely qualified to put a smile on your face and a pep in your step.
Watch live performances of Emphatically No. tracks below, and purchase the album here.