Dunnville, Ontario’s Chore are back after two decades with Oswego Park, a tightly wound, deeply personal fourth album brimming with post-hardcore intensity, progressive structures, and raw emotion. Out now via Sonic Unyon Records, the record follows previously released single “Cowards Can” and highlights the menacing, riff-heavy “King” – a song that channels the pressures of modern life through a lens of chaotic energy and self-reflection.

While “King” may be one of the record’s most aggressive and angular moments, Oswego Park is anything but one-note. Across its sprawling tracklist, the album ricochets from pummeling math-metal intricacies to brooding alt-rock atmospherics, from knotty time signatures to soaring melodic payoffs. Written and recorded intermittently between 2017 and 2022 – and shaped in part by the global pandemic – the record captures Chore 2.0 working purely for the love of the craft.

The album’s title is a nod to a small rural subdivision halfway between Dunnville and Smithville, Ontario – a hub of childhood mischief and friendship for brothers Chris (guitar/vocals) and Mike Bell (bass guitar) and a point of connection with Dunham. “We’ve always waved a little Dunnville flag in our work,” says Mike. “This album really drives it home.”

Originally sparked at the drumkit in Chris’ basement studio, “King” was built from an aggressive, unique drum part that laid the foundation for the track. The brothers and David Dunham (drumkit/vocals/synths/percussion) then layered intertwining nuances and riffs, while the manic feel, rotating time signatures, and overall aggressiveness mirrored the song’s theme: wrestling with self-identity in a cyber world of hidden critics and relentless social pressure. “If AI had a language based on modern society, I think it would sound something like the samples at the end of this song,” notes Chris.

“This is one of the first songs we’ve written that we can both listen back to and play and say we enjoy both immensely,” he continues. “Same goes for all of the songs on this record.”