Sheer Mag

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Sheer Mag have labored to carve out a discernibly singular position within the canon of contemporary rock: toggling with ease between the refined flourishes of a “connoisseur’s band” and the ecstatic colloquialism of populist songwriting - yet displaying no strict loyalty to either camp - their sound, while oft-referenced, is unmistakably and immediately recognizable as theirs alone. On Playing Favorites, Sheer Mag’s third full-length and first with Third Man Records, the band capitalize on a decade’s worth of devotion to their own collective spirit - a spirit refined in both the sweaty trenches of punk warehouses and the larger-than-life glamour of concert halls - emerging with a dense work of gripping emotions, massive hooks, and masterfully constructed power-pop anthems. Playing Favoritesexpands with a sense of undeniable vitality, buoyed by rock and roll’s singular capacity to channel a relentless compassion for human life: as singer Tina Halladay puts it, “Nobody seems to write straight up rock bangers anymore - more than anything else, we want this record to put huge, catchy songwriting front and center.” This is the record the Philadelphian rock and roll four-piece has always been destined to make.