Artist: Gilla Band
Album: Most Normal
Label: Rough Trade Records
Release Date: 07/10/2022
Location: Ireland
Ireland’s Gilla Band (formerly Girl Band) have been around for over a decade now and have been working damn hard during this time. In fact they’ve been so kind as to very recently grace us with their third full-length album Most Normal.
With a band such as this you never know what to expect, they’re constantly experimenting, pushing boundaries, and changing sounds and styles. What we get on Most Normal is a blend of post-punk, alternative and noise rock, with a hefty helping of harsh noise elements. The band manage to somehow make music that is incredibly catchy while at the same time being abbrasive and hard to wrap your head around. Their ability to weave catchy head nodding choruses and versus into segments of harsh feedback, distortion and chaotic, discordant electronics is truly impressive. To me this is where this album shines, in these moments of duality and contrast
The other thing that makes the band so special is their ability to work their unconventional sense of humour into their music. The band have always had a way to make an album feel lighthearted and fun while also delivering serious music with moments of stark sobering reality mixed in. I think a perfect example of this is comparing track 3 Backwash (an absolutely banging track) and the album’s closing track (also a banging track) Post Ryan.
The former has humourous, abstract lyrics such as these:
It became a muscle, a hustle to be a Jack Russell
Whose head was deaf and once again binged theBig Brotherboxset
He knows about self-satisfaction, his nose looks like a toe
And anytime his watch would die, he’d trip over himself
“Hello,” he went to the sink and put Vaseline on a trout
“Hello,” eventually spoke like a wheel on a basking shark
He advises it, revises a bit and too much to be ignored
And then hе saw a wall, a wall, a wall, a wall, a wall, a wall
Then the latter has lyrics such as these:
I’m in between
Breakdance, constantly
In recovery
I’m in recovery
I’m just the same prick
I’m just the same prick
I’m just the same prick
I’m just the same prick
Took it all for granted
Gonna end up homeless
I hid behind the surreal
I’m a bit too much
And goes on to end with this:
Now I can’t get out of bed
Oh no, not again
Basically, I get
Inevitable depression when I do nothing
Inevitable depression when I do nothing
Personally, I feel that the album could do without as many of the short harsh noise interludes between the actual songs. That isn’t because I don’t enjoy them, trust me I love harsh noise. Its more the fact that the actual songs themselves are so damn good that I would gladly give all of those interludes for one or two more actual tracks. With each listen I keep thinking to myself “these are fine but give me another one of those brain worming bangers that perfectly balance harsh noise with these other stellar elements.”
Enough negativity though, I need to praise four particular songs and recommend that if you only listen to a portion of the album, to make it these. Two of these you already know, track 3 Backwash and track 12 Post Ryan. You don’t know track 2 Eight Fivers and track 5 Bin Liner Fashion though, but you really should. All four of these songs have been on repeat for me for a while now.
Overall, the album is a very unique offering and I guarantee that it will be one of the most interesting things you’ve listened to this year. There are some seriously great songs here and I know for a fact that I’ll be coming back to them in the future. While the whole album wasn’t completely to my liking, I’m sure that many out there will love every moment of it. I’m also sure that some people won’t like it at all, but then experimental music has always been polarising.
Listen to and order the album:
Bandcamp
