If you could distill the guiding philosophy of Robber Robber’s second album down to a single word, it would be the one that appears about a minute into “Avalanche Sound Effect”: “upend.”
With a frenetic, trash-can-clanging backbeat ricocheting behind her, singer and guitarist Nina Cates calmly repeats that word as if reciting her daily-affirmation mantra, transforming a word synonymous with upheaval and disorder into a source of strength and possibility.
Certainly, the Burlington, Vermont band can appreciate the value of a good coping mechanism: In January 2025, the building where Cates and drummer/partner Zack James resided caught fire. Though the couple’s apartment was spared any major structural damage, every…