Ghastly City Sleep weren’t always making music so haunted and beautiful. In their former lives, the members of the Brooklyn quintet actually lived in Virginia and made names for themselves in the overlapping hardcore and emo scenes (with some clutch post-rock diversions). But from the ashes of beloved bands Gregor Samsa, City of Caterpillar, pg. 99, and Majority Rule came the formidable crew that now gently thrash before you.
“Bent” is the first taste of GCS’ forthcoming second album, a thing three years in the making that promises to be a fascinating mix of wasteland rock, Krautrock freedom, dubwise reverberations, and deeply damaged soul. The song below goes through several metamorphoses (word to Gregor), growing in scope along the way. Singer Brandon Evan evokes Thom Yorke in Atoms for Peace mode (ponytail shaking), yes, but also the likes of Wild Beasts and Alt-J. Either way, there’s still something distinctly American and punk at the gnarled center.
