Some bands find their groove and stick to it while others choose to reinvent themselves and keep on moving. Sextile can attest to the thrill of an ever-changing road map. The LA duo comprising Melissa Scaduto and Brady Keehn ply their trade with a lust for life and a love of everything from no wave to hardstyle, having merged some of these influences on their striking 2023 debut for Sacred Bones, Push.
The group’s new LP, yes, please., fuses anarchic electro fire with raw personal recollections —and enough beefed-up bass to bust a speaker or two. yes, please. is an album of contrasts: a vulnerable record that bares its soul as much as it revels in excess, showing just how far you can push your sound when you shake off your inhibitions. Together, the pair betray a confidence that never wavers, making a bold splash on the speedy intro with a rave siren cut from a ‘00s New York house party. Seemingly by the same token, the unruly spirit of electroclash stalks the yes, please. building, flashing its ID on the cowbell-peppered thunderbolts of “Freak Eyes” and “Rearrange”, and turning in a scuzzy dancefloor bomb with “Women Respond to Bass.” High on endorphins, “Push-ups”—which features vocals from Jehnny Beth—is pure muscle music, fortified by hoover bass and fleshed out by synths that hammer as hard as lumps of hail on a glass roof.
Scaduto, who grew up in New York, and the Virginia-raised Keehn originally met in NYC before relocating to LA and forming Sextile. In 2015, they were joined by guitarist and synth player Eddie Wuebben, embracing “occult-inspired” post-punk for their debut album A Thousand Hands (2015), amping up the synths for 2017 follow-up Albeit Living, and leaning into this further for 2018’s electronically minded EP 3. Sextile went on hiatus following a difficult period marked by the tragic passing of Wuebben in October 2019. They later re-emerged with former bassist Cameron Michel on guitar and synths and released the “Modern Weekend” / “Contortion” single in 2022.
