Vaguess - Guilt Ring - VINYL LP

Vaguess - The Bodhi Collection [VINYL LP] date 09/04/2015

Every Country's Sun takes two decades of Mogwai's signature, contrasting sounds - towering intensity, pastoral introspection, synth-rock minimalism, DNA-detonating volume - and distills it, beautifully, into 56 concise minutes of gracious elegance, hymnal trance-rock, and transcendental euphoria. Produced by psych-rock luminary Dave Fridmann, it's a structural soundscape built from stark foundations up; from a gentle, twinkling, synth-rock spectre to a solid, blown-out, skyward-thrusting obelisk. There's percussive, dream-state electronics (InchCoolverineInch), church organs as chariots of existential fire (InchBrain SweetiesInch), tremulous, foreboding bleeping - possibly from a dying android (Inchaka 47Inch). Their most transportive album yet, it also hosts their most fully realized art-pop sing-along of their storied history, InchParty In The Dark,Inch a head-spinning disco-dream double-helix echoing New Order and The Flaming Lips, featuring Braithwaite's seldom-heard melodic vocals declaring he's Inchdirectionless and innocent, searching for another piece of mindInch. This is music as a keep-out chrysalis, protective audio armor through exalting organs and portentous, dissonant guitar fuzz warping at the edges, bending the world inside-out into a reality in which you'd much rather live. The last three songs ascend into explosive exorcism, closing with the colossal InchEvery Country's Sun,Inch it's searching intensity whooshing towards infinity in a dazzling cosmic crescendo.

We all grew up playing heavy music. For me personally, listening to artists like Swans, Godflesh, Neurosis and Kiss It Goodbye in my 20s was cathartic in a lot of ways. Identifying with people that have a similar world perspective, who are channeling their angst and frustration into the creative outlet of art and music - that was important.Josh Graham isn't just talking about his decades-long career in heavy music, which has included A Storm of Light, Battle of Mice, and many years as the one-man visual department for Neurosis. He's also talking about the formation of Guiltless, his new band with bassist Sacha Dunable (Intronaut), drummer Billy Graves (Generation of Vipers) and guitarist Dan Hawkins (A Storm of Light).Guiltless released their debut EP, Thorns, via Neurot Recordings in early 2024. Crushing and cheerless, it seemed to welcome the apocalypse looming on our collective horizon. InchThe EP had a pretty narrow focus starting from my ideas,Inch Graham explains. InchI wrote the basic outlines for the songs and then reached out to the guys to see if they'd actually want to play on it. With this record, my main goal was to really collaborate with Sacha and Dan and Billy because those guys are great songwriters. The new album is meant to open up the sonic palette and explore more territory.InchThat new album is Teeth to Sky, the band's first full-length. Even more pulverizing and focused than it's predecessor, the album's collaborative songwriting approach was paired with an adjustment to the lyrical content. InchOn the EP, the lyrics are as bleak as possible,Inch Graham points out. InchI wanted to try to turn that around a little bit for Teeth to Sky. It's a more introspective record. The overarching theme is taking advantage of your life while you have it. It's a crazy thing to really just be alive, floating through space on this little planet. Of course the ly