Track Premiere: Thunder Gloss—’The World’s Greatest Planet On Earth’
Posted: by The Editor
Thunder Gloss call themselves “a chaos pop band from Brooklyn,” which means they could either sound like Xiu Xiu or whatever ambitious emo bands are calling themselves these days. Surprisingly, the album-and-a-half they put out under the name Monster Bad reigns in all of those sensibilities. Their 2016 record was a ping-pong game of references from the last 25 years of indie-rock, recalling Neutral Milk Hotel and Built To Spill in one song, and The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die and Grandaddy on the next. Their disjointed 2017 EP sounds like they became disillusioned with those influences and got really into Jens Lekman, or like (Sandy) Alex G if he never heard Elliot Smith (hard to imagine? Take a listen).
After a few years of radio silence the band have returned and re-branded as Thunder Gloss, and their new direction is equally peculiar but much more focused. Their first offering is a song called “The World’s Greatest Planet On Earth” that crosses the jangly Bard emo of The Hotelier with the overflowing post-rock of Young Jesus. The track begins with a muttery, wavering line about “appreciation and compassion” before the drums come pouring in and the song works its way up to a tumbling climax. It’s a through-composed cut with no real hook or discernible structure; just a dynamic build, an increasingly louder proclamation of the line “chaos reigns in me,” and an abrupt ending.
It’s the first single from an album called Halos (out 2/21 via Deep Sea Records) that attempts to cover the evils of cryptofascism, “magical thinking”, the necessity of empathy, and trans-ness. The physical version comes with a 40-page companion playbook that expands on the themes of the album. If you’re longing for the type of sky-gazing determination and contextual heft that’s often lacking in contemporary indie-rock, stream “The World’s Greatest Planet On Earth” below:
Pre-order Halos now via Deep Sea Records.
Check out Thunder Gloss on: Facebook | Twitter | Bandcamp
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Eli Enis | @eli_enis
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