It's been four years since Sweatbox Dynasty, the fourth solo LP from Pennsylvanian experimentalist Tobacco. In that time, Tom Fec's project has toured with Nine Inch Nails, provided the theme song to HBO series Silicon Valley, and teamed with Aesop Rock for a collaborative album as Malibu Ken. He now returns to Ghostly International for Hot Wet & Sassy, a full-length album oozing with his most playful and approachable songs to date, which, conversely, express notions of antilove, self-hate, and disappointment in others.Pop impulses have always surged beneath the surface of his sound - blown-out bass, analog synths, drum machines, and Fec's unmistakable analog gurgle and hiss - here they've bubbled to the top. InchI feel like it's the most I've been able to refine what I'm doing,Inch says Fec. InchFor the past decade I've had this motherfxcker on my shoulder that makes me pick away at structure and melody. Purposely covering up moments because I can. That really came to a peak on Sweatbox. So I wanted the opposite this time. Write the songs without ripping them in half. I went from 'what would the Butthole Surfers do?' to 'what would Cyndi Lauper do?'InchAnd what would Trent Reznor do? Fec found his answer straight from the source. Their collaborative track, InchBabysitter,Inch fuses their voices into one deranged presence InchI'm the new babysitter,Inch they alert, before pivoting into a menacingly saccharine bridge. The track tumbles on a tom fill, then a punishing synth line rips into a cacophony of drums and feedback like a lawnmower gnawing through the living room carpet. InchThis was new for me, but I wanted to write a song that was everything I am and have been, and then like one notch further. Trent was the notch further,Inch adds Fec. The collaboration is a work of alchemy seamlessly blending Tobacco's trademarks with Reznor's industrial rust and sonic gore.D