4 out of 5

Label: Zealrecords, Parkmarker

Produced by: ?

Driving the group’s style ever forward, Sin Ropas’ Tim Hurley and Danni Iosella continue to make music that seems impossible for only two people – a level of organic rock and clatter that conjures up a studio full of musicians, and not these two, gathered in an abandoned church – and refine a post-Red Red Meat sound into a distinct and defined identity. Where the preceding discs buried almost every lede, even with many 6+ minute tunes, Fire Prizes has a sense of both urgency and confidence – melodies are not slouched into, but emerge fully; songs are punctuated by some amazing guitar explosions, with the kitchen sink percussion focused on support and momentum. Accompanying this, while the lyrics are still hard to penetrate, Hurley’s singing of them is more direct than before, as opposed to a default languidness; a mood of restlessness and questioning emerges, even if I can’t underline exact lyrics that make it so.

Looking forward, the Ropas crew would keep paring and distilling this approach, their heavily distorted, folk-tinged slocore rock capable of supporting an even richer sound as its core became more solid; Fire Prizes is the first big push towards that, if still indebted to a RRM clatter and looseness, and maintaining an almost defensive vagueness that, ultimately, keeps the album at arm’s length. But the growth from feeling like a side project to becoming a fully-formed band is completed, making for a confidence that bucks aside some inherent crypticness, and grabs your ears from the first warbling sting of guitars.