Written by: Alex Green

Brooklyn’s The Shondes have appeared on the scene like a slap in the tukhes out of nowhere.

Utilizing elements of punk rock, classical, world music, Jewish lore and present-day politics, on their debut The Red Sea, The Shondes’ songs come in whipping, breathtaking bursts.

“Your Monster” has all the sharp, angular intensity as anything from Sleater Kinney’s All Hands On The Bad One; the raw “Don’t Look Down” is powered by a wandering violin and “Let’s Go” sounds like The Avengers playing a number from Fiddler On The Roof. Produced by Tony Maimone (They Might Be Giants, Pere Ubu), The Red Sea is an eleven-song collection of intelligence, passion and power.

Later, the driving “I Watched The Temple Fall” is impossibly melodic; “What Love Is” sounds like the distant cousin of the Breeders “Saints”; “Don’t Whisper” is a catchy blast of hard rock and “The Start Of Everything” is a bass-driven wonder that finds singer Louisa Solomon declaring, “I want this song to break my heart.”

It sounds like it does. Mazel-tov!