‘And it seems so bleak, So we close our eyes and breathe, And try to be here now, But I don’t know how’ (Deep Sage)

Gouge Away, like every band, in fact, like every person, found plans and life disrupted when the Covid pandemic swept into view.  But, unlike some, they found the notion of long-distance song writing an inherent challenge, one that didn’t work with their particular band dynamic.  They needed to be in the room together.  As a result, a six-year interval emerged between their 2018 album, Burnt Sugar, and this, Deep Sage, their third full-length.

It sees the band continue the evolution that first tentatively emerged on Burnt Sugar, of infusing their hardcore roots with a myriad of 1990s post-hardcore and alternative rock influences.  But a greater self-assurance is evident, and the band proves highly adept at fusing these disparate shades without compromising their sonic coherency as accents and whispers of Fugazi, Seaweed, and Sonic Youth all shape the album’s progression.  Blending furious sub-two-minute eruptions, such as No Release and Spaced Out, with more wide-ranging explorations of the loud / quiet, harsh / soft dynamics that shaped many of the influences being explored, most notably, perhaps, on Idealized and the title track.

Impressive vocal versatility matches this musical development step by step.  The avowedly political lyrics that defined the band’s 2016 debut, Dies, though now have a much more introspective character as they examine themes of anxiety, social claustrophobia, and self-awareness.