Album Review: Gilla Band - 'Most Normal'
Gilla Band are back with their brand new album 'Most Normal'. A record that further pushes the boundaries of avant-pop and crystallises them as one of the biggest innovators of their age.
As a child, I used to swim in the North Sea. Diving into the cold, murky water was always an arresting experience. Gripped by shock, you gasp for air as the bitter water bites your body but slowly you acclimatise, your breathing slows and you begin to revel in the experience. As I delved into Gilla Band's brand new record 'Most Normal' I was struck by those very same sensations.
The record opens up with 'The Gum', a track that provides the same piercing shock to the system as those icy East Coast waters. Cacophonous, discordant waves of sound wash over you and startle the senses, providing the kind of shock therapy required to fully immerse yourself within the album's depths.
"Eight Fivers", the lead single from record immediately follows up the records jarring opener in typical Gilla Band style. Lead singer Dara Kiely's instantly recognisable voice and abstract lyrics dance over a driving beat, setting the tone for the rest of the record. Discussing the track Dara explains “Eight Fivers is about 40 quid. It's about being out of touch with modern circumstances while feeling socially limited. Never fitting in and kind of proud of it. Stuck with what I have and happy for it. Being grateful and not fashionable, self-conscious and too aware of what is lacking. Accepting that jealousy played a big role in my life but trying not to feed into it.”
Throughout the track listing the band, turn the dial on the records intensity, cranking it up and down throughout. Spectacular blasts of sound wait around every corner however, highlights of the record include the creative odyssey which is "The Weird". Building slowly, the track reaches a crescendo of frenetic ecstasy before dropping into a quiet pocket of ambient serenity, in what is new territory for the band and a much needed reprieve from the all-encompassing sound that defines the record. On the other end of the spectrum 'Post Ryan', the album closer wraps itself around the skeleton of a post-punk track with a sprinkle of distorted vocal tones, and the bands hallmark discordant instrumentation. A perfect end to a truly avant-garde opus.
One of the great originators of their age, Gilla Band continue to break new ground with the release of 'Most Normal'. Extracting the winning formula from their Girl Band days, yet contorting it further still. The new record is like nothing else you have ever heard before, taking the foundations of pop songs and corrupting them to allow the band to build sonic real estate that crumbles to ruins in a spectacular spectrum of noise.
Words by Jordan Corrigan
