Anamanaguchi Reshape “Sucker Punch” With Shoegaze and Electronics

By Marcus Bennett

Anamanaguchi put all four band members behind microphones on “Sucker Punch,” their new single co-produced by Grammy-winning producer Dave Fridmann.

Peter Berkman, Ary Warnaar, James DeVito and Luke Silas connect dreamy guitar layers, digital samples and unconventional songwriting within one restless composition that makes electronic music and rock collide. The guitars swell into an enormous wall of sound, while digital textures shift without warning.

Berkman described their ambition as “creating something that feels like the climax of a surreal film rather than a conventional pop song.” That aim gives the track narrative charge as well as volume.

What does “Sucker Punch” sound like?

The single resists a conventional verse-chorus route. Its free-form structure changes shape across its running time. Lyrics introduce an odd character who desperately tries to look tougher than he really is. All four voices, layered guitars, samples and digital effects share the same space.

“Sucker Punch” follows “Yeah I Guess,” an energetic statement of intent for the band’s self-described hyperpunk era. Long associated with chiptune sounds and video game culture, Anamanaguchi moved toward organic, guitar-heavy writing on Anyway. They kept electronic invention while giving physical instruments more weight.

For listeners, the change is specific rather than total: the video game sensibility remains, but four microphones and broad guitar textures now carry much of the song’s force. The strange character and unpredictable digital detail remain central, preserving links with the band’s earlier chiptune identity and current hyperpunk phase.

How did a four-track recording become a single?

Anamanaguchi first sketched “Sucker Punch” while living at the American Football house and recorded an early version on four-track tape. Its unusual arrangement did not fit into the sessions for Anyway, so the band set it aside until the timing felt right.

Working with Fridmann prompted a revisit. He had already helped the group pursue a more guitar-driven direction on Anyway, and his production credits include The Flaming Lips and MGMT.

With Fridmann’s Tarbox Road Studios approach, Anamanaguchi could preserve the song’s free-ranging structure while enlarging its guitars, voices, digital detail and sense of controlled chaos together. The process widened the early arrangement rather than replacing it.

Fridmann’s role returned the project to the band’s physical, guitar-led language while keeping its electronic detail. The finished recording gives four voices, the peculiar character and unpredictable digital effects room within one track.

What do the video and tour add?

Verebonum, the creative partnership of Daniel Egnal and Gabriel Lee, directed the accompanying music video. It combines footage captured on tour with glitch-heavy visual effects from Gobluna.

By treating live images as digital material, the film mirrors the band’s years of finding unexpected connections between digital culture and physical instruments within the recording and its visual counterpart.

Anamanaguchi also composed the expansive soundtrack for Scott Pilgrim EX, returning their musical instincts to gaming. Their long association with chiptune sounds and video game culture continues to shape that work.

The band now carries this approach on the road as a support act for Madeon’s Victory Live Tour. The listed dates are:

• November 14 — Great Hall at Pacha NYC, Brooklyn
• November 21 — Radius, Chicago

What changes for fans?

The practical change is the live scale of the material. Four voices, layered guitars and digital effects occupy a composition built toward an arena rather than a conventional pop arrangement on the live dates ahead.

The next test comes on November 14, when Anamanaguchi takes the four-part sound to Brooklyn before a second show at Radius in Chicago on November 21.