“A cotton candy rock’n’roll blitzkrieg?” Yes! Kudos to the writer of the press release, as this is an amazing way to describe Confection, the new Wind-Ups LP that’s out today. It’s the band’s third LP, fourth if you count last year’s live album. Wind-Ups frontman Jake Sprecher still plays with the subtlety of a sledgehammer through a storefront window. It takes exactly 29 seconds for the first “woo-hoo” to make its appearance, and as unoriginal as that may sound, it works almost like a filter to send out the pretentious crowd. If you’re looking for experimental and complicated music, best leave now. But those people would be missing out on what is the poppiest version of the band yet. I think someone may have been spiking Sprecher’s coffee with heaps of sugar.

Songs like I Love Her showcase everything I love about the Wind-Ups. It’s lo-fi pop punk bubblegum music that would have made Joey Ramone smile in approval. To be sure, lo-fi may be an understatement here as the record sounds like it was recorded directly to an old tape deck. But even then, the pop sensibilities underneath this noise are undeniable. That’s Just My Dream Girl and Keep Away sound like a glorious take on the Beach Boys, and may be some of the best Wind-Ups songs yet. Then again, that applies to most of Confection, including some of the more outlier tracks on the LP, like the laid-back garage pop of Ants on the Table and Cheer Up, a song that feels like a ’90s throwback alt rock track, with a talksinging verse and earworm chorus, and the dark and angry Pain in Your Heart.

Confection is a record that wastes no time in finding residence in the reward center of your brain. It is an addictive record indeed! Out now on Dandy Boy Records.

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