GAUNTLET HAIR

STILLS (Dead Oceans)

16/20 

Waxing nostalgic and reconciling with their affection for post-punk nihilisms and gothic industrialism, avant-noise-pop duo Gauntlet Hair’s sophomore LP Stills is imbued with all the vestiges of a band that are clearly at ease with penning the influencers of their formative years. Notable namechecks from the formerly Denver-based duo of Andy Rauworth & Craig Fleischman include Marilyn Manson, The Durutti Column, White Zombie and Beyonce, of course, which, aside from providing a telling insight into their varied record collections confirms that Stills is one pretty fucked up tea party.

Primed with an audible angst from the get-go, bilious grumbles surface from Andy R’s scorched lips for lead single Human Nature for a brooding introduction to a record that comes at you in bouts of intricate minimalism and waves of colossal, melodramatic choruses. Rest assured, it doesn’t hold back on the ‘that-really-shouldn’t-worked’ moments either, but when you’ve got Jacob Portrait (Unknown Mortal Orchestra) on knob twiddling duties to mop up the overtly obtuse deviations, it allows the sometimes-maddening experimentation to really resonate. Cantankerous highlight Heave is a medieval battle axe to the cerebrum, spewing guttural Cobain-esque croaks alongside a reverb drenched guitar romp that doesn’t quit. But once Stills breaks into its stride and takes its cues, it peers into a looking glass that’s more angled towards 80s synth-pop. New To It sneers along a path of broken snares and lightly sprinkled electronics a la Animal Collective, while on tracks such as Spew and Bad Apple, incoherent, gargled vocals take the lead role in harnessing the debauched romanticism. If only tea parties were always this awesome.

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Words: Joshua Nevett