“A strangely triumphant refusal to be pulled down by life’s turmoil, or else a fatalistic rush to the bottom.” That’s how we described ‘this one’s about you‘, the opening track from goodgrief‘s debut album love birds. Out now on Rue Defense, the album sees lead Ezekiel J. Rudick look to move beyond the morose sound he’s become known for with acts like Young Elk, The Slow Sound and Leaky Engine. “I was in sad bands,” as he says, “now I’m trying to make happy-sounding sad music.” Though as the lead single highlighted, this would-be brightening still comes down to a matter of perspective.
The mood is brought to life with a blend of “the nineties shoegaze of Low with a Bazan-esque earnest-yet-forthright delivery” as we described in a preview of ‘two wheel drive‘, and Pedro The Lion is a good touchstone for the new aesthetic. The sound of someone emerging through personal difficulties to almost surf upon them, find energy in the turmoil now beneath their feet, even if such a thing can only ever be short lived. Take ‘ 86 chrysler 5th ave blues’, its forthright lyricism vacillating between criticism and confession, any meanness soon countered by brittle vulnerability, though still Rudick ascends towards a soaring climax.
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‘Build a House’ is more traditionally upbeat, a dreamer’s song of possible futures, while the title track splits the difference, the return of the previous weight not enough to drag down that newfound energy. “I thought we had a lot of time / I thought we’d both grow old and die,” as Rudick sings, “I thought you’d be my widow bride / I never thought I’d be alone tonight.” However bleak that might read, the sound is charged with a momentum which feels somehow more productive. Where a Young Elk song might have settled to be buried beneath such things, goodgrief pushes on regardless.
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‘propane’ is a typical example of the style, its energy conjured in hope if not expectation, and the cover of Damien Jurado‘s ‘engine fire’ leans into this further, locating a breathless panic within the stripped back original and growing it into something encompassing. Closer ‘noise rock band’ is in many ways the culmination of the sound, where despondency is shaken off with nothing but energy and sound. When writing of Rudick’s intention to make ‘happy-sounding sad music’, we declared “it’s up to you to decide which of those feelings wins out in the end.” The answer to which emotion seizes control is no clearer across the full release, but there is catharsis irregardless.
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love birds is out now via Rue Defense and available from the goodgrief Bandcamp page.