CD of The Week

We first met Brit band Sorry, led by Asha Lorenz and Louis O'Bryen, in early 2020 with their debut album 925. Since then, the band’s sound has gotten slipperier and harder to pin down on 2021’s Twixtusttwain EP and 2022’s Anywhere But Here, while still being built around Lorenz and O’Bryen’s intriguing, enticing vocals. With their third full album COSPLAY, the group continues down these knotty, fascinating paths.

Much of COSPLAY feels like ‘00s-era Radiohead B-sides, full of strange ideas and tempos that coalesce into the artier side of Brit rock. Album opener “Echoes” definitely has some spidery Jonny Greenwood guitar going on, along with haunting, romantic vocals from Lorenz. The jittery rocker “Jetplane” kicks off with a Guided By Voices sample of “hot freaks!” with Lorenz declaring, “Arrest me/I'm a hot freak/I'm bombastique/Yeah, I'm making modern music in Spain/I'm on the jetplane.”

With samples and references to other bands laced throughout their music, you never know what you’re going to get. “Candle” throws in some swaggering piano licks while the bouncy “Today Might Be the Hit” has a “yadda-yadda” hook. Midway through COSPLAY, “O’Bryen” takes the lead on the quiet, melancholy “Life In This Body.”

“Waxwing” was the first taste we heard of COSPLAY, way back in late 2024. The tune interpolates Toni Basil’s classic “Mickey” in a sexy, creepy way, over pulsing electro beats. Album closer “JIVE” could be mistaken as a cracked, broken remix of Sylvan Esso, built around the repetitive chant of “I wanna jive tonight, I wanna swing my hips/I wanna move like that but I only seem to move like this.”

On COSPLAY, Sorry continue to beguile, fitting in alongside their peers in Bar Italia with a signature vibe yet constantly shapeshifting songs. How does the Sorry sound translate in concert? You can find out for yourself when they play Kung Fu Necktie on December 4th.