Gospel Gossip “Dreamland” EP Review

Gospel Gossip have taken a great step forward with the band’s Dreamland EP, the follow-up to their excellent debut album, Sing Into My Mouth. The disc further explores the fuzz pop sounds they worked with on their debut and finds the band stretching out musically on this highly rewarding disc.

The 24 minute record starts out with the previously released single “Nashville,” a great song which helped garner the band some strong attention from a variety of outlets when they initially released it a few months back. From the opening moments of Dreamland‘s snarling feedback, you can’t help but be impressed with the powerful sound the three piece band is producing. One thing that may have helped to increase the band’s confidence, along with playing scores of shows and really sharpening their songwriting, is the excellent production on the disc. Where Sing into My Mouth was more aesthetically rough around the edges, Dreamland has a smooth sound that allows for the three instruments to meld into a fuzzy haze.

After the initial rush of “Nashville,” the band slows things down with one of their more poppier efforts. “Home…” strips some of the distortion from Sarah Nienaber’s guitar, leaving an echo-y ringing that has the band slightly stepping away from the fractured shoegaze-pop that has been their calling card so far. Just before the two minute mark Nienaber sings “My home isn’t your home anymore,” right before the music drops out. We’re then forced to wait patiently before the band comes thundering back in with an instrumental end that is as dramatic and powerful as anything the group has done.

Next up is “Pre-Med (Just in Case),” which sounds like it could easily be a track from Sing into My Mouth. The rhythm section keeps a steady marching beat behind Nienaber’s strumming and her impassioned singing. “Space/Time” enters the fray with building drums and a steamrolling bass line before Neinaber joins in with her great wall of noise guitars. The song is purely instrumental for the first two minutes and only has Nienaber singing for the last minute of the song. Next up is “Big Steer,” which might be the best song on the album. With a mellow dream-like intro, the song ramps up into a stunningly powerful pop song with the rhythm section playing with controlled chaos and Nienaber’s excellent singing swirled in layers of effects. The song has a driving urgency and captures the band at their very best. The disc wraps up with the title track which starts out with some sparse playing over Nienaber’s bruised vocals, sounding even more harrowing with the spaced out backing music. The song never really leaves its lethargic pace, although the end of the track finds the band playing up their drone-y, Galaxie 500 fix with some sonic flourishes.

Dreamland proves that Gospel Gossip are a band well deserving of the praise they have been receiving. And with the marked improvements they made between Dreamland and Sing into My Mouth the band has shown that they have the talent to transcend their female fronted Jesus and the Mary Chain sound. They are an exciting group to keep an eye on in the near future as their great sound continues to evolve.

Gospel Gossip “Pre-Med (Just in Case)” [MP3]
Gospel Gossip “Nashville” [MP3]

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