Spending the pandemic honing their craft, the broadly-influenced power trio Chewy is coming out swinging. Known for their unpredictable live sets often featuring yet-unreleased songs, their feral yet meticulously constructed rock leaves them with a reputation of being an act where you never get the same thing twice.  

Comprised of guitarist/vocalist Connor La Rocca, bassist/vocalist Asher "Glom" Wolf, and drummer Sean Emery, the Philadelphia trio formed in 2020 following the amicable breakup of Connor's previous band. In contrast to the more singer-songwriter and dream-pop influenced acts in Philadelphia, Chewy makes angular, chaotic progressive rock that paradoxically has more hooks than a tacklebox. The band sports a vocabulary influenced by the saccharine art-pop of Deerhoof juxtaposed against adrenaline-soaked prog and fusion acts like Mahavishnu Orchestra.  

Following 2022's Melt Thru and Recovering Catholic, 2023's Backwards shows Chewy's darker side. This apocalyptic thrash-inspired ripper sports their signature genre whiplash, snapping from chugging dissonance into delicate jazz fusion and back before you can even process what happened.