Demons

While the untangling of duality - awe and anguish, faith and fraud, hope and horror - is hardly a new artistic exercise, such rich questioning is rarely attempted in the form of a six song EP. Performing the duties of both architect and builder, Zach Gehring (of beloved Virginia-based Mae acclaim) has designed an exorcism vehicle, the aptly-titled moniker Demons, and allowed often-at-odds voices the opportunity to speak. Decidedly heavier and more aggressive than previous projects, Demons took stylistic cues from the likes of many influential bands that have shaped Gehring as a musician. Traces of Spiritualized, Pedro The Lion, The Afghan Whigs, and Mudhoney can be found throughout and we bare witness as moments of sonic accessibility lose footing and spiral into heavy and brooding responses with little warning. Gehring's fragile vocals transition into angst-ridden bellows and words from the same speaker argue back and forth across the tracklisting. The result is Great Dismal, an oxymoronic battle of declarations, withholdings, distortion, and clarity - a tussle of the psyche examined through opposing dynamics. RIYL: Melvins, Mudhoney, Pedro The Lion, Queens of the Stone Age