Standstills - Shockwave (Violet Vinyl)

Musicians often say a band is like a marriage. Comprised of husband-and-wife duo Jonny Fox and Renée Couture, The Standstills fit that definition literally. On album number two, the organic and gritty Shockwave, the duo lay their story bare, with intimate and urgent rock n' roll bombast. The Standstills built a reputation for transcendent anthem-making with an earnestly steadfast formula: gigantic hooks, unapologetically hypnotic grooves, and infectious unabashedly cool riffs. Produced by Neil Sanderson from Three Days Grace and mixed by two-time Grammy Award winner Howard Benson (My Chemical Romance, Santana, Daughtry), Shockwave blends immediately accessible choruses with magnetic layers of depth revealed in repeated listens. The duo's Western-flavored stomp owes as much to the sonic landscapes of Ennio Morricone and the squinty-eyed attitude of Clint Eastwood as the thick grooves of Queens Of The Stone Age or noisy grunge.