Band To Know: Gospel Gossip - "Shadows Are Bent"

Download: Gospel Gossip- "Shadows Are Bent"

Gospel Gossip are a trio from Northfield, MN, who merge together the wistfulness of three different kinds of sub-genres: there's the longing wistfulness of vintage girl-groups from the 50s, mainly in the sighing female vocals; the swirling, feedback-laden destructive wistfulness of shoegazer bands like Ride; and the jangly wistfulness of the bands from the 80s who successfully reinterpreted and reincoporated the folk-rock of the 60s into a more introspectively visceral sound (groups like R.E.M. and Echo & The Bunneymen come to mind).

The end result of all of these musical elements in constant collision is not a band overdosing on ennui, but rather creating transcendent melodies based on mundane things like walking around with too many thoughts in your head. "Shadows Are Bent" details such an event, along with the efforts of trying to alleviate the boredom that comes with the territory of thinking way too much about things. The ringing, opening chords set the jangly mood which slowly and steadily carries the rest of the band to a ringing, glorious climax. Should there be a Gen Z-remake (or whatever the young people of a few decades from now will be called) of Lost In Translation, the future Sophia Coppola would do good to include these tracks from Gospel Gossip on the soundtrack, like the sadly beautiful "Lucky Lemmings". The song is the musical lovechild of The Ronnettes' "Be My Baby" and Ride's "Dreams Burn Down", with the slow, heartbeat-like drum of the former colliding with the heartbroken, reverb-drenched guitars of the latter.

Check that track out at the group's MySpace Page and listen to "Shadows Are Bent" at the top of the post.

Gospel Gossip are playing on Friday, Nov. 30th at the Hexagon.

MySpace Page