Sword II

The enigmatic Atlanta-based three-piece outfit Sword II share their debut album Spirit World Tour – a snapshot into the collective’s shared seminal life experiences over the past three years, with potent lyrics that explore refusal, love and rage, degenerates, fluidity, life force and psychological warfare.

Starting their journey playing DIY and experimental shows across Atlanta, Sword II have built up a sonic arsenal of boundary pushing music and combining it with politically-charged lyrics. Recorded between 2020–2022 at their Lakewood, Atlanta basement studio near The Dungeon (where The Dungeon Family and Outkast made early records), Spirit World Tour was created over a period of unprecedented times across America and the world.

“The album title came to us because we were experimenting with a lot of different styles of music and ways of recording, especially during the pandemic & uprising year of 2020,” explains the band. “That whole summer we were just immersed in that climate, making friends with people on the street, bringing generators and speakers to demonstrations, washing tear gas from our eyes. And then when we would finally go back home, finally to make music, we had a whole new perspective on how we wanted to do things.”

Formed in 2018, Mari González (they/them – bass and vocals), Certain Zuko (she/her – guitar and vocals) and Travis Arnold (he/him – guitar and vocals) make up the band. Spirit World Tour was born out of years of 100% experimental sessions where guitars became synths, real drum kits were forged into electronic ones, and sounds were sped up and warped. The result is a cohesive record that glides from ruthless punk to unsettling noise and pop sensibilities.