Cuffed Up

The Los Angeles outfit Cuffed Up produces blistering post-punk laced with heavy distortion yet anchored by melodic hooks, largely through the intertwined vocals of its dual leaders Ralph Torrefranca and Sapphire Jewell. Having first appeared via a self-named EP in the opening months of 2020, the group followed up the next year with Asymmetry.

Torrefranca and Jewell, who had shared stages in an earlier project, began co-writing songs in 2018 while absorbing the energy of London’s expanding post-punk underground. Bassist Vic Ordonez and drummer Joe Liptock rounded out the quartet in 2019, enabling the band to release its self-titled, independently issued EP in February 2020. After securing a deal with Canadian indie Royal Mountain Records, Cuffed Up resurfaced in October 2021 with its second EP, Asymmetry.