Sweeping Promises Release Third Album, ‘You Say I Romanticize’

Kansas City duo Caufield Schnug and Lira Mondal have built Sweeping Promises around a clear idea: punk is a practice, not just a sound. On their third album, You Say I Romanticize, that practice takes on a heavier live shape with touring drummer Spenser Gralla joining all ten tracks.

The band’s previous two records—2020’s Hunger for a Way Out and 2023’s Good Living Is Coming For You—caught underground attention for taut, scrappy, melodic songwriting. Since then, they have also recorded bands like Suitor and Optic Sink in their home studio, extending their reach beyond their own output. The new album does not rewrite that approach, but it adds weight. Opening track “Shooting Shadows” pairs a distorted descending bassline with ragged power chords, while “My Friend’s an Entomologist” uses double-tracked vocals and sprinting guitar riffs over Gralla’s pummeling drums.

Rather than overwhelm, the record uses tension. “Last Man” rides a one-note bassline under Mondal’s vocal hook, and closer “Write Lightly” leaves space for the rhythm section to carry the song. No track runs past four minutes, but each feels intentional—an abrasive, live-band version of the duo’s long-standing D.I.Y. instinct.