Lawrence, KS-based duo and JOVM mainstays Sweeping Promises — Lira Mondal (vocals, bass, production) and Caufield Schnug (guitar, drums, production) — just released their thorn album You Say I Romanticize through Sub Pop.
Recorded over an 18-month period, You Say I Romanticize is a tribute to the chaos of creation and collaboration under shifting circumstances. Mondal and Schung found and tested themselves in their combination tour house and recording studio annually working on dozens of albums by other bands, hosting tour stops, planning shows and the like. After an immersive process of tracking and whittling down YSIR demos and carving out an idiosyncratic chamber recording method for the album’s deliberate and international wall-of-sound approach, the duo brought in touring drummer Spenser Gralla to play the album’s material as the band would on stage.
The album’s frenzied and passionate sound shines most in Modal’s vocal perforamnce. Where you might have heard a growl here and there on certain previously released Sweeping Promises trcks, the band’s frontwoman shouts, roars, hits tricky notes all over the place and shreds her throat throughout the album’s runtime.
YSIR takes the art-by-any-means-necessary ethos that Mondal and Schung have firmly established throughout their careers and turns the prompt upside down, landing on a personality epidemic that manifests across the album’s ten songs.
The JOVM mainstays’ third album includes the previously released “Cocoon,“Accent,” and it’s latest single “Rapture, Or . . .” “Rapture, Or. . . .” is a roaring and punchy apocalypse fantasy written with a defiant, plucky resolve that’s strangely sort of upbeat. It’s a song that’s perfectly suited for our contemporary hellscape fueled by greed, hatred and blood.
The duo explain, “‘Rapture, Or…’ we originally envisioned a sort of fallen monastic, mockingly devout, longing for a near-term judgment day (catch phrase: ‘I can’t wait for tomorrow’). The actual lyrics are scenario-adaptable, though, as apocalypse fantasies seemingly guide culture now, so you can’t blame us for finding a desire lane amid the ruins. It’s one of our poppier songs ever. We double-tracked Lira’s loud vocals in our tiled bathroom – our ‘cathedral’. A malfunctioning arp played the ascendant synth arpeggios, and the guitar on this one was improvised.”
Directed by Shawn Brackbill, the accompanying DIY-styled video is split between features the duo performing the song in a small studio wth a brewing end-of-times-like phenomenon — one that seems like part-storm, part-eclipse, part-nuclear explosion.
The band will be embarking on a lengthy North American headlining tour that includes two New York area dates — November 10, 2026 at Night Club 101 and November 11, 2026 at Baby’s All Right. Check out the rest of the tour dates below.
SWEEPING PROMISES YOU SAY I ROMANTICIZE
NORTH AMERICAN HEADLINE TOUR
Wed. Sep. 09 – Oklahoma City, OK – Resonant Head
Thu. Sep. 10 – Denton, TX – Rubber Gloves
Fri. Sep. 11 – Austin, TX – LEVITATION
Sat. Sep. 12 – San Antonio, TX – Paper Tiger
Tue. Sep. 15 – Phoenix, AZ – Rebel Lounge
Wed. Sep. 16 – San Diego, CA – Casbah
Thu. Sep. 17 – Los Angeles, CA – Sid the Cat Auditorium
Fri. Sep. 18 – San Francisco, CA – Rickshaw Stop
Sun. Sep. 20 – Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios
Tue. Sep. 22 – Vancouver, BC – Fox Cabaret
Wed. Sep. 23 – Seattle, WA – Baba Yaga
Fri. Sep. 25 – Boise, ID – Shrine Social Club Basement
Sat. Sep. 26 – Salt Lake City, UT – The DLC at Quarters
Sun. Sep. 27 – Denver, CO – Hi-Dive
Tue. Sep. 29 – Lawrence, KS – White Schoolhouse (NEWLY ANNOUNCED SHOW)
Tue. Oct. 27 – Omaha, NE – Slowdown
Wed. Oct. 28 – St Paul, MN – Turf Club
Thu. Oct 29 – Milwaukee, WI – Cactus Club
Fri. Oct. 30 – Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle
Sat. Oct. 31 – Detroit, MI – Lager House
Tue. Nov. 03 – Toronto, ON – Monarch
Wed. Nov. 04 – Montreal, QC – La Sala Rossa
Thu. Nov. 05 – Boston, MA – Deep Cuts
Fri. Nov. 06 – Boston, MA – Deep Cuts
Sun. Nov. 08 – Troy, NY – No Fun
Tue. Nov. 10 – New York, NY – Night Club 101
Wed. Nov. 11 – Brooklyn, NY – Baby’s All Right
Thu. Nov. 12 – Philadelphia, PA – First Unitarian Church
Fri. Nov. 13 – Washington, DC – Union Stage
Sat. Nov. 14 – Richmond, VA – Cobra Cabana
Mon. Nov. 16 – Durham, NC – The Pinhook
Tue. Nov. 17 – Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade – Purgatory
Wed. Nov. 18 – Nashville, TN – DRKMTTR
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