Split between Austin and Oklahoma City, psych-tinged noise-rockers Neckbolt first introduced their sound as a combination of the hissy garage-rock early recordings of Thee Oh Sees and the abrasive clamor of their OKC peers in Chat Pile and Nerver with their debut album midwestern drawl, released back in 2021. Yet the thesis statement for the band has always been entirely singular, with guitarist Benjamin Krause noting that the group is less attracted to noise rock’s masculine edginess and more “interested in exploring sounds associated with hypnagogic residue and full spectrums of emotion.”
This thesis statement feels even more apt for the band’s new single “Fung Wah or Lucky Star,” the first taste of their sophomore album (dream dump) slated for release on September 22 via Born Yesterday Records. Expanding from Krause and vocalist James Roo’s two-piece songwriter set up to a fully collaborative quintet, the first sample of the new LP demonstrates the more democratic recording process, which was spread across multiple studios in multiple states. “This is a collection of five points of view,” Krause explains. “We see this project as some amorphous entity. Neckbolt is not as ‘finite’ as most other bands, but rather an umbrella of understanding and free will.”
“Fung Wah or Lucky Star” and its psychedelic-nightmare music video (Roo notes that the track was inspired by his first experience with sleep paralysis) demonstrate that hypnagogic residue and unrestrained freedom, unfolding with freeform panic-attack vocals straining to be heard over a constant repeated harsh guitar riff recalling an alarm that can’t be unarmed. Check it out below.
