Louisiana’s own The Links emerged from Lafayette’s sun-baked streets in the early 2010s, their sound a raw cut of Southern grit. But as the storm of the 2020s blew through, the band’s sonic palate expanded, pulling in a swirl of space-rock, surfy edges, and psychedelic textures that orbit a resolute post-punk core. It’s a brew brewed deep down south, yet laced with Madchester Britpop catchiness and swagger, subverting regional expectations while reinforcing The Links’ unpredictable ethos.
Today, the group channels a hypnotic energy—a mix of saturated keyboards and stuttering rhythms that bend reality with every note. Frontman Jack Morrison leads the charge, with Grant Gauthreaux’s bass, Wesley Guillory’s jagged guitar lines, and Andrew Lawrence’s drums creating a fractured yet focused rhythm section. Influences seep through like sweat: Radiohead’s artful angst, King Gizzard’s madcap experimentalism, the sludgy heft of Deftones, and Smashing Pumpkins’ melancholy, all refracted through a lysergic Southern lens.
Their latest single, Sela, is a plunge into a psyche on the edge—a feverish descent into mania, where urgency meets disorientation. This track isn’t a pleasant trip; it’s a high-speed flight through a restless mind, propelled by pulsing rhythms and eerie, lingering riffs that catch at the edges of the mind. Every strum and beat seems to probe deeper into chaos, capturing a sense of panic and bewilderment that’s magnetic in its madness. Sela beckons with its raw, uncomfortable beauty, a haunting spiral that’s as unsettling as it is addictive.
Morrison reflects upon the band’s trajectory after their debut album Outside: “It felt like we may have hit some sort of plateau,” he admits. “I really wasn’t sure where we were going to go from there. Then I came up with this very simple but very addictive little electronic instrumental demo that ultimately became Sela, and it was clear we were only at the start of something potentially even more exciting and, for lack of a better phrase, ‘artistically fruitful.’”
Listen to “Sela” below, and add it to Spotify here.
The Links continue their journey with Sela’s B-side, Magical Marvin’s Incredible Expo, an instrumental piece that pushes boundaries in its own right, hinting at where the band is headed as 2024 winds down. Together, these tracks are a manifesto—a statement that The Links have outgrown their roots, reaching toward sounds that are as expansive as they are deeply personal.
Having shared stages with national names like Daikaiju and Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol and commanding audiences from Lafayette’s Cajun Dome to intimate dives, The Links have honed a sound that’s as compelling as it is unpredictable. Their latest work signals a shedding of skin, a deepening of their craft that hints at roads still untaken and boundaries still begging to be broken.
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