The Appleton, WI-based trio Tenement have been beloved in the D.I.Y. punk scene, releasing a number of albums and split singles with the likes of Screaming Females, Used Kids and several others. And over the past three years, the trio had been writing and recording the material that would comprise their forthcoming double album, Predatory Headlights (which Don Giovanni Records, the label home of Screaming Females, Priests, Downtown Boys and others will release on June 2) at BFG, a retired DIY venue and home studio that was symbolically demolished a few days after the trio had finished recording the album. 

Co-produced and engineered by Justin Perkins, who has worked with The Goodnight Loving, Sugar Stems, The Mystery Girls and with Tenement on their 2011 effort, Napalm Dream, the album is reportedly deeply influenced by Perkins’ work with Yesterday’s Kids and The Obsoletes  – and it may arguably be the effort that brings the Appleton, WI-based trio a much larger profile; in fact, the forthcoming album’s first single “Dull Joy” sounds as though the members of Tenement were listening to old Pavement, Replacements and Weezer albums, as it pairs irresistibly melodic (and somewhat anthemic) hooks with sludgy guitar lines, stomping drums and sneeringly ironic lyrics. Every time i’ve played the song, I can picture a room full of kids jumping and stomping about, and I can picture myself jumping around with them.