Back in 2019, Cheekface released their debut album, a record that’s difficult to categorize without simply listening to it. It’s kind of post-punk, kind of pop, and mostly spoken-word; it’s quirky, clever, and nearly danceable.
Now it’s 2025 and Cheekface has released their fifth album—but I just don’t have the stomach for it. Greg Katz is trying to move beyond simple monotone spoken-word vocals by singing a lot more, and there’s maybe even a hint of auto-tune on his vocals. It’s… horrible.
Cheekface has a rabid fanbase, so I say this with trepidation. I mean no offense to Greg Katz—it’s not that his vocals are inherently bad, it’s just that I started listening to Cheekface for songs like “Dry Heat/Nice Town”, and a song like “Living Lo-fi” is… not like that song.
They might as well be two entirely different genres, even if they share the same core components. It’s like ordering a steak burrito and getting a carne asada plate—similar, sure, but fundamentally different.
It’s unfortunate, but sometimes a band can only extract so much magic from a single schtick. Maybe the original Cheekface formula had a lifespan of two solid albums, one decent album, and now we’re two records into the (hopefully short-lived) awkward years.
Luckily, we can always revisit those two solid albums, then jump to the last track of their third, “Vegan Water“—which I’d argue is not only the last truly great Cheekface song, but possibly their best. It’s akin to how Arcade Fire closed out their last good album with their finest work, “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)“.