“I hope you know I am yours forever.“
For many of us, Cold Gawd’s debut record titled God Get Me the Fuck Out of Here was nothing short of exceptional. Sublime offerings such as “You The Well“, “Gin“, and “Two Iris Prints” are arguably some of the best shoegaze this decade, taking the ethereal nature of shoegaze and packing it with fuzzy and hearty vocals and guitar harmonies that could raise a tear below the eye like a summer sunset. In the two years since, its quality and soul have yet to be topped, even by the dramatic influx of new material the genre has seen recently.
God Get Me the Fuck Out of Here did always leave the question as to what would follow. I’ll Drown On This Earth is the answer. It sees Cold Gawd further embrace the warmth and soul of their sound, while touching on influences of dream and post-hardcore genres, and will set them up well to embark on a tour alongside Gouge Away and Initiate that many will be eager to attend.
“Gorgeous” awakens with a scream and familiar reverb-soaked guitars, before Wainwright‘s vocals enter to give Cold Gawd their almost magical sense. Pitch vocals weave themselves through the tracks early on, delivering melodies that elevate tracks such as “All My Life, My Heart Has Yearned For A Thing I Cannot Name” out of the dull, stoner atmosphere that many shoegaze or similar sounds can get trapped in.
“Duchamp Is My Lawyer” leans into the post-hardcore elements that many ‘gaze styled bands such as Nothing have tread over the years. The guitars have an imposing nature here, almost sitting above Wainwright‘s vocals in the mix. It’s louder and slightly more crushing, akin to the pressure of the air before a thunderstorm, before closing out in a low-tuned soundscape of melodies.
There is a gentleness that emerges on the latter half of I’ll Drown On This Earth with “Tappan“, as it enters into an almost still like, dreamy state of contemplation. Each touch of the drum tom or strum of the guitar has a delicate feel. It’s perhaps here where the production, courtesy of Wainwright and Knight, feels a step on from God Get Me the Fuck Out of Here, adding an atmosphere and sense of being lost in the clouds that their debut didn’t fully have.
Adding in a twang on the synths, a more drawn-back version of Turnover‘s later experimentation, comes “Nudism“. It has the feel of an extended interlude of sorts, with piano chords entering in, dropping in high notes that act as a mood-setter for I’ll Drown On This Earth‘s closer. The slightly more paced “Bird In Space” is where the record feels closest to its predecessor, as glistening riffs and Wainwright‘s vocals once again summon the sunset.
As the silence hits at the end of I’ll Drown On This Earth, it marks itself as a record that the mind will need to sit with for a moment before it can even think of indulging in anything else. Cold Gawd have done nothing short of something exceptional here yet again, which makes I’ll Drown On This Earth an even more impressive feat. Once more the Californian outfit have proven, without a doubt, that they are one of the best current shoegaze bands.
9/10
I’ll Drown On This Earth is out this Friday via Dais Records and can be pre-ordered here.