Grey Tides in the Dark Lagoon
I was at the library before the pandemic. I was in my car on a Sunday morning looking at the grey white sky. I was in a parking lot staring at the concrete blocks. I was in East Berlin thinking of a way under the wall. I was on the moon and it was cold. It was 11:34 PM and I was standing on the side of the Turnpike near the refineries and I was the loneliest person in the world. Cars are passing me by. If I listen very closely, I can hear little snippets of music coming from their speakers. One car in particular stands out. It is a slate grey Pontiac. It has this album on. I catch a glimpse of the driver, a man in his early 30s. He has had a bad night. He has left the apartment of his girlfriend in the city and is heading back down the shore. She has told him that their relationship is over. He is listening to this album because it reinforces the abstraction of his loss.
There aren’t a lot of “hooks” on the record, but there is loads of atmosphere. We know this isn’t pop music. It is trying to create or add to an atmosphere that is preexistent in the listener and the listener's environment.
Most of the tracks are dazzling dreams of middle pick-up guitar with verb off the hook. Their standout track is Atheroma, which demonstrates this band’s ability to create clear song structure and still be atmospherically interesting. They are at their best when the singer really belts out the vocals. I look forward to hearing future releases, wondering if they go further in this direction.
-Gregory D Jaw, BMN Contributor