Robber Robber delivers explosive new album Two Wheels Move the Soul amidst personal chaos
The Burlington quartet’s new album arrives as a post-punk and indie rock statement shaped by instability, blending slacker rock textures with jagged, sonically adventurous arrangements rooted in a period of personal upheaval.
Produced by: Benny Yurco
Two Wheels Move the Soul captures a band leaning into tension as both theme and structure. Written and recorded throughout the winter of 2024 and 2025, the record translates displacement and uncertainty into a restless sonic palette. The production—engineered by Benny Yurco at Little Jamaica Studios—emphasizes sharp contrasts, where bursts of distortion and percussive intensity collide with more restrained, melodic passages. Across its 11 tracks, the album sustains a sense of unease, balancing propulsion with moments that feel suspended mid-collapse.
Key tracks highlight this dynamic approach. ‘The Sound It Made,’ the album opener and lead single, “rattles into existence, eschewing exposition to plunge directly in the deep end,” immediately setting the tone. ‘New Year’s Eve’ presents a swaggering yet clear-eyed depiction of daily obstacles, while ‘Watch for Infection’ leans into the band’s more volatile edges. On ‘Pieces,’ a slower-burning moment, the band pulls back just enough to underline the emotional fragmentation at the album’s core.
The record’s perspective is best captured through its lyrics and imagery. “Yes I know, gotta work for my pay,” Cates exhales on standout ‘New Year’s Eve,’ a swaggering depiction of life’s myriad impediments. “I’m tired, so is everyone – how can I complain?” Elsewhere, the album confronts collapse more directly: “What more is there to do?,” Cates asks on ‘Pieces,’ before concluding, “you’ll end up with a piece.” These lines reflect the album’s broader meditation on endurance amid instability. “You can leave it, but it follows you home,” Cates buries beneath incendiary bursts on “It’s Perfect Out Here in the Sun,” reinforcing the inescapable nature of its themes.
The context behind Two Wheels Move the Soul is inseparable from its sound. Robber Robber—comprised of Nina Cates, Zack James, Will Krulak, and Carney Hemler—wrote the album during a period of forced displacement after Cates and James were removed from their longtime home in January 2025. Moving between temporary living spaces during a harsh Vermont winter, the band redirected that instability into the recording process. Returning to Little Jamaica Studios, a familiar environment from their debut Wild Guess, the group found a sense of grounding. “Everywhere else that we had to be, we were very much visitors, James recalls. “When we were working on the record, it was nice because it felt like this is our space.”
Two Wheels Move the Soul is available now to stream via Fire Talk Records. As a new album shaped by real-world instability, it stands as a document of a band transforming disruption into a focused, volatile, and cohesive artistic statement.
Standout Songs: ‘The Sound It Made,’ ‘New Year’s Eve,’ ‘Watch for Infection,’ and ‘Pieces.’
Release Date: April 3, 2026
8.2
We’ve covered Robber Robber previously: ‘New Years’ Eve,’ ‘Pieces,’ ‘Watch For Infection,’ ‘The Sound It Made,’ ‘Suspicious Minds‘ and ‘Talkback.’
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