REVIEW | Sioux Falls’ Off Contact lingers in rock-fusion uncertainty with ‘Can You?’
Album debuts July 31, eve of Icon Lounge album release show
Some albums introduce themselves with a firm handshake. Others ask a question, glance toward the nearest exit and let the silence grow uncomfortable.
Can You? belongs firmly in the latter category.
For years, Off Contact has quietly occupied one of the most distinctive corners of Sioux Falls’ music scene, blending post-punk, shoegaze, psychedelia and art rock into something that increasingly feels less like a collection of influences than a language of its own.
For listeners expecting towering choruses or immediate hooks, the album’s deliberate pacing may initially feel restrained. The restraint is precisely where Off Contact separates itself from many contemporary post-punk acts. Across 40-odd minutes, the band shows little interest in racing toward catharsis. It would rather study the pressure building beforehand: the private craving, the public threat, the thought circling after midnight and the bargain made when desperation has worn down every lock.
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