BIG STIR RECORDS is proud to announce the return of Detroit indie pop duo CROSSWORD SMILES with their second album, CONSEQUENCES & DETOURS, out on Vinyl, CD and Streaming worldwide on May 23. Already teased by the hit single “Falling All Over Myself” (with the equally compelling “Counting By Fives” to follow in the coming weeks), it's the followup to their surprise hit 2022 debut Pressed & Ironed, delivering on the promise of that record's hooks, inspired lyrics and timeless arrangements while pushing their unique sound in exciting new directions. CONSEQUENCES & DETOURS is up for pre-order and pre-save now:

https://orcd.co/crosswordsmiles-ii

CONSEQUENCES & DETOURS reunites the musical minds behind CROSSWORD SMILES – power pop veterans TOM CURLESS and CHIP SAAM – to continue exploring new sonic textures and lyrical landscapes, and applying them to the kind of perfect pop-rock song structures and melodies at which they excel. It's a winning combination of inspiration and songcraft that expands on the foundation of the first album and delivers a set of instantly memorable, richly detailed melodic gems that sound like nothing else coming out of the Midwest in 2025.

When they emerged three years back, CROSSWORD SMILES drew immediate notice for presenting a new sound even for the the deeply respected Michigan-based guitar-pop stalwarts at its core. The band had been quietly formed a few years earlier by CURLESS, formerly of Your Gracious Host and currently enjoying solo success, and SAAM, best known as the bassist for The Hangabouts and Curless's backing band The 46% and the host of the indispensable Indie Pop Takeout show on Neighborhood Weekly Radio. The impulse behind the new collaboration? A pure and simple wish from a pair of like-minded music fans to hear something different.

The resulting and instantly-appealing sound suggests a blend of Crowded House and The Replacements with a bent toward sharp character studies in the Ray Davies tradition, but there are countless other guiding lights here. Spotting them is half of the fun: Chip and Tom share an encyclopedic grasp of pop-rock history in all its many flavors, and the CROSSWORD SMILES ethos lets them go deep-diving for inspiration. You could hear their mutual love for the too-often-overlooked likes of Joe Jackson, The Go-Betweens, Freedy Johnston and The Blue Nile all over the debut album, and on CONSEQUENCES, they lean into those influences and add still more from the their eclectic array of personal favorites. Tinges of Michael Penn and Del Amitri can be heard in Tom's tender but sly vocal delivery – check out the pitch-perfect melancholy of “Once Or Twice” – and the band cites diverse inspirations from Madness (“Night Train”) to Guided By Voices (on the lead single “Falling All Over Myself”) to The Left Banke (“Girls Club”) when discussing the new tunes.

But again, nothing on CONSEQUENCES & DETOURS sounds precisely like any of those artists. Nor does it line up exactly with the superb back catalogs of either of its two chief architects. It's something completely new and timeless. That may owe to the scrupulously collaborative nature of the songwriting – both members have a hand in the crafting of every tune – or perhaps it's because CROSSWORD SMILES has taken on an identity of its very own, instinctively grasped by its creators and instantly recognizable in its uniqueness.

Confident in that identity, Curless and Saam free themselves to follow their shared “Navigator Heart” (to borrow the title of a standout track) and fold new sounds into the songs this time out. Violin blends with synths amid the new-wave inspired hooks of “Typical Waving Goodbye”, accordion ornaments the plaintive and flat-out lovely “Millicent”, and trumpets complete the Two-Tone tribute “Night Train”, while harpsichord and e-bow weave through the mix on other tracks. While these flourishes bolster the Euro-pop and UK rock textures that suffuse CONSEQUENCES & DETOURS, they're contributed by the band's Midwestern peers, most notably members of The Hangabouts and The Needmores. Fundamentally, though, it's the core duo you'll hear, sharing guitar duties with Tom on drums and Chip on bass. And they can rock, too – as evidenced not only on the singles but on the delightful heaviness of the album-closing “The Never Seens” as well.

Would it all have sounded completely at home on college radio circa 1985? Absolutely. But what Chip Saam and Tom Curless have established across two albums may be even more vital on today's melodic rock scene where too many bands are sheltering in the shade of the the same weather-worn power pop and retro-rock touchstones. Their burgeoning catalog amply demonstrates that there's more than one way to hang a hook, and the indie pop world is that much richer for having CROSSWORD SMILES in it. Far from a sidetrip on the musical landscape of 2025, CONSEQUENCES & DETOURS is a journey in itself, and one no fan of indie pop and rock will want to miss taking.

With a new album announced and on its way before the end of the month, Detroit indie rockers CROSSWORD SMILES bring you a second single to preview the record. “Counting By Fives”, the followup to the recent indie hit “Falling All Over Myself”, bows on all streaming services worldwide on May 16, one week before the release of the band's second full-length album CONSEQUENCES & DETOURS. The single is up for pre-order and pre-save from Big Stir Records now:

https://orcd.co/crosswordsmiles-cb5

Advance word is getting around about the new album from CROSSWORD SMILES, the duo formed by Michigan power pop veterans TOM CURLESS (known for his solo work with his backing band The 46%) and CHIP SAAM (of The Hangabouts) in 2022 to stretch their musical boundaries in a decidedly different direction. The new single “Counting By Fives” is the lead track on the new album, and taken together with the previous preview track – the Guided By Voices-inspired “Falling All Over Myself” – a picture of the depth and detail on display on CONSEQUENCES & DETOURS begins to emerge. Where the first single rocked, this one bounces: the appeal of its hooks are apparent right out of the gate, while the chorus and its sweet harmonies conjure memories of the brightest tones of '80s college rock (think Aztec Camera or Prefab Sprout), complementing the giddy expectant tone of the lyrics. Chip lets us in on the development of the tune:

“This one breezes by. A song about young love and how you can’t wait to see the object of your affection,” he says, revealing that “Counting By Fives” began as an afterthought before becoming a highlight worthy of serving as the opening track on CONSEQUENCES. “It's a classic case of a song written after you think you’re done with a record, and coming up with something that turns out to be one of the best tracks recorded. It started as a seed back in 2021, around the time Tom and I were developing Crossword Smiles. I tried to put my best Grant McLennan (The Go-Betweens) foot forward. I got a chorus and a verse and then abandoned the idea. Tom resurrected it near the end of the sessions for the new album, crushed another verse, and added a killer bridge. I came up with a spiffy jangle pop intro and Lenny Grassa, our buddy from The Needmores (and formerly Popular Creeps), laid down a perfect pop guitar solo.”

Curless tells his side of the tale, offering insight into the scrupulously collaborative writing process at the core of the duo's work. “This started as a sparse acoustic demo from Chip that got my attention. It was really short, but when I went back a second time, I thought 'hold on….there is something here'. I heard some harmonies in my head for the vocal hook. We hammered out a structure based around three chords going in a circle, and it came together pretty quickly in the writing department, which is usually a great sign. I worked up a 'fancy demo' and sent it over to Chip, which he really liked. From there it was me trying my best to get a Rickenbacker sound without owning a Rickenbacker, ha ha!”

And with that, the first two tracks on CONSEQUENCES & DETOURS have hit the airwaves, albeit in reverse order. Together they're an auspicious opening for an album that goes on to present textures both delicate and angular, lush and sparse, and always utterly involving. The new album from CROSSWORD SMILES is out May 23 on Vinyl, CD and Streaming from Big Stir Records, and up for pre-order and pre-save now.

Big Stir Records is delighted to bring you the return of Detroit indie pop duo CROSSWORD SMILES with a brand new single, “Falling All Over Myself”, to kick off the countdown to the band's new and soon-to-be-announced full-length album. Hot on the heels of their recent standalone single “Puppets” and highlighting the rocking side of the sophisticated guitar pop vibe established on their 2022 debut album Pressed & Ironed, the new track is out April 18 and is up for pre-order and pre-save now:

https://orcd.co/crosswordsmiles-faom

CROSSWORD SMILES hit the indie scene three years ago with an impressive pedigree, as a collaboration between two beloved mainstays of the Detroit power pop scene, TOM CURLESS (of solo renown with his backing band THE 46%) and CHIP SAAM (of THE HANGABOUTS). More than a side project, the band was conceived as an outlet for the two songwriters to explore musical textures and influences outside the scope of their other projects, referencing the cult favorite and critical darling likes of The Go-Betweens, Del Amitri, The Blue Nile and Joe Jackson among many others from their personal shared pantheon. As manifested on their acclaimed debut album PRESSED & IRONED (2022), CROSSWORD SMILES took on a sound of their very own, with songs in the Ray Davies character study mold framed by sonic textures bridging the gap between Crowded House and The Replacements. A fresh sound on a scene that's perhaps too bogged down with power pop nostalgia, the album not only found widespread admiration but also brought forth an approach that invited further exploration.

The band has already made a low-key return this year with the surprise single “Puppets”, a Depeche Mode cover reimagined as an organic performance featuring live trumpet taking on a key synth part. It was a signal of things to come, and while it will remain a standalone track, it is indeed a harbinger of a full-length album of originals on the way. “Falling All Over Myself” is the first true preview of that record (due on Vinyl, CD and Streaming in late May), and while the band's new work overall is just as nuanced and textured as ever, this one unequivocally rocks.

CURLESS recalls the evolution of the song and the inspiration for its aggressive but melodic approach: “Chip had a basic acoustic idea that caught my ear. He had the chorus there of 'falling all over myself', which I really liked, both the melody and the lyric idea. We wanted to have a tougher garage guitar treatment, as we had just gone to see Guided by Voices in Kalamazoo, MI. That show was probably in my mind when I came up with that introductory riff, which sounds very Pollard inspired.” SAAM himself adds, “I absolutely love that intro riff. The lyrics were a mixture taken from my demo and Tom’s rewrite, and I think came together very well – giving a sense of slight self-deprecation mixed with tentative optimism.”

Stay tuned for more on the return of CROSSWORD SMILES, including another single and official release information for the forthcoming album, CONSEQUENCES & DETOURS, from Big Stir Records!