Two Wheels Move The Soul

Robber Robber — 2026

“Restless noise, controlled collapse.”

Robber Robber are a four piece band out of Burlington, Vermont, made up of Nina Cates on vocals and guitar, Zack James on percussion, Will Krulak on guitar, and Carney Hemler on bass. They put out their debut Wild Guess in 2024 and caught some real attention for their noisy, restless take on post punk rock. Not long after that debut, things got genuinely rough for the band. In January 2025, the building where Cates and James lived caught fire. Their unit was spared major structural damage, but every other apartment in the building was destroyed, and the landlord decided to tear the whole thing down. The two were evicted. That chaos became the engine for Two Wheels Move The Soul, their sophomore record out today on Fire Talk Records. The tension they carried in followed them into the recording process, and it shows. These songs feel tightly wound, charged with pressure, like they could snap or unravel at any moment. It is a record about losing your footing but figuring out how to keep moving anyway. These swings in tempo and style give Robber Robber a more dynamic identity and push them forward in the modern indie scene.

I think what makes Robber Robber interesting is that they do not sound like anyone doing the same thing in the same way. The core setup is guitar, bass, and drums, but they push that pretty far. Even with its rough indie rock backbone, Two Wheels Move the Soul is shaped by a different kind of studio mindset. The beats hit hard and physical, the low end stays thick and murky, and flashes of noise appear without warning, breaking up the flow in a way that feels at times more aligned with hip hop and electronic music than anything traditionally rock. Robber Robber builds from the drum kit outward. The smallest details in the percussion carry real weight, with each snare crack and kick thump shaping the songs as much as the guitars do. Cates’ vocal delivery is flat and cool throughout, almost like she is reading from a list, but that contrast against all the noise underneath her is a big part of what makes the record work.

Compared to Wild Guess, this record feels like the band turned everything up a few notches without losing the looseness that made the debut fun. The pervading sense of instability from their real life situation became the album’s main driving force. There is also more going on structurally. Across most of Two Wheels Move The Soul, the band avoids traditional song frameworks, opting instead to hold everything in a controlled, high pressure state, choosing their moments carefully before letting the music finally break loose. I like that restraint. It makes the moments when they do cut loose feel earned rather than just loud.

Robber Robber lines up closely with M(h)aol in the present tense, driven by a locked in rhythm section and vocals that stay deliberately cool while everything around them starts to come apart. You can hear that same detached delivery in Water From Your Eyes, while the wiry, restless energy pulls from Yeah Yeah Yeahs. There is also a clear connection to early Sleater Kinney in the way Cates uses her voice as part of the overall mix rather than a focal point. Wet Leg fits into that same level, as “Talkback” makes it easy to hear, with Cates riding a dry, deadpan vocal over a hook that would not feel out of place next to anything on either of their albums. It all circles back to Sonic Youth, with that familiar thread of noisy, off kilter guitar work giving the band a slightly nostalgic edge beneath all the tension.

“The Sound It Made” opens the record and sets the pace immediately. The bass is loud and rubbery, the guitar fights its way in, and Cates just talks over the whole thing like she is not impressed by any of it. It is a fantastic noisy and confusing chaos that creates a strong statement of purpose right from the start. “New Year’s Eve” is the one that sticks with me most. It feels like the band’s most complete statement so far. In just a few minutes, it distills everything Robber Robber does well, with jagged guitars, drums that move with real attitude, and Cates sounding on edge as she lets out, “Baby where did all the time go? I was stuck here tryna make it work.” It is the most direct song on the record and the one I keep coming back to. “Talkback” is probably the most accessible thing Robber Robber have recorded, built around a guitar hook that grabs you right away and a vocal delivery that stays cool even as the song gets bigger underneath it. I think it shows the band can write something that pulls you in quickly without dropping any of what makes them interesting. Closing track “Bullseye” leans into a heavier, more tuneful approach that sets it apart from everything leading up to it, and when the bridge finally surges, it delivers one of the album’s most satisfying send offs.

Cates does not write in complete stories. The lyrics are more like fragments and observations that pile up into something bigger. On “Pieces,” she says plainly, “You’ll end up with a piece,” which is about as direct as it gets when describing what happens when your life falls apart. On “Avalanche Sound Effect,” she just repeats the word “upend” like she is reminding herself to accept the chaos rather than fight it. I think what works about the writing is that it does not try to be clever about hard things. “I’m tired, so is everyone, how can I complain?” from “New Year’s Eve” is the kind of line that resonates because it is something most people have actually thought without putting it into words. The lyrics are honest in a way that does not feel like it is reaching for a reaction.

Two Wheels Move The Soul is a strong record from a band that has figured out what it wants to sound like pretty quickly. It is noisy and tense and does not always let you off the hook with a big payoff, which might frustrate some listeners who want things to open up more. But I think that tension is the point. The record sounds like what it feels like to be broke, displaced, and still showing up every day anyway. It does not wrap that up neatly, and it probably should not. With their second album already sharpening the edges of what made their debut work, it is hard not to be curious about where Robber Robber goes from here.