The spring 2024 music release schedule is overwhelmingly packed with choice gems and instant classics, but one album that I’m particularly excited for is Winged Wheel’s triumphant return. The third of May will see the untamed shoegaze typhoon that is Big Hotel.

Available through 12XU, the supergroup’s sophomore effort will see regular members Matthew J Rolin (Powers/Rolin Duo), Cory Plump (Spray Paint, Rider/Horse, Expensive Shit), Fred Thomas (Tyvek, Idle Ray) and Whitney Johnson (Matchess, Damiana) joined by Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley and Lonnie Slack of Water Damage. Recorded together during a rare meet up in Kingston, NY, Big Hotel features the usually distant band members building their sound into a towering, all-consuming wall of howling guitars and metallic drones. The first released cut from the record, the hazy and hypnotic “Sleeptraining,” is an especially rabid example of just how big and powerful their sound has become.

With ghostly dreamlike vocals slathered in damp reverb, rocketing drums and jagged riffs that tear like shards of broken glass, this track absolutely rips. From its opening bass line that resembles the thrumming of a taut piece of electrical fencing to the twisting maelstrom of growling feedback that closes the piece, “Sleeptraining” is a testament to the vast sonic palette and sheer strength that Winged Wheel is currently working with.

For a record that pummels you and leaves you dazed and hungry for more, preorder Big Hotel today.