It’s a good week to be a Cheekfreak: Los Angeles trio Cheekface have surprise-released their third album, Too Much to Ask, the 11-track follow-up to last year’s acclaimed Emphatically No.
Cheekface wrote their new record across the past couple of years, and recorded most of it in 2022. The LP features their 2021 tracks “We Need a Bigger Dumpster,” “Next to Me (Yo Guy Version)” and “Featured Singer,” as well as this summer’s “Pledge Drive.” It also features the band’s first ballad, a prominent Moog melody, their usual bounty of tweet-worthy lyrics (e.g., “When life hands you problems, make problem-ade”), and the sounds of “pianos, Casio keyboards, cowbells, staple guns, a stainless steel ashtray, an old vinyl suitcase [and] a clanky folding chair,” per a press release.
Cheekface—songwriters Greg Katz (vocals/guitar) and Amanda Tannen (bass), plus Mark “Echo” Edwards (drums)—formed in 2017, releasing their full-length debut Therapy Island in 2019. We hailed their follow-up Emphatically No. as one of 2021’s best rock albums.
The trio will play a pair of record release shows this fall, supporting Too Much to Ask on both coasts. Tickets are on sale now.
Listen to Too Much to Ask below, and see the tracklist and art further down, along with Cheekface’s tour dates.
Too Much to Ask Tracklist:
1. When Life Hands You Problems
2. We Need a Bigger Dumpster
3. Pledge Drive
4. I Feel So Weird!
5. Featured Singer
6. Noodles
7. Election Day f/ Sidney Gish
8. You Always Want to Bomb the Middle East
9. Friends
10. Next to Me (Yo Guy Version)
11. Vegan Water
Too Much to Ask Art:
Cheekface Tour Dates:
October
23 – New York, NY @ Baby’s All Right
30 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Troubadour
