New Music – Break Through Earth

For fans of the psychedelic turmoil that exists to be Thee Oh Sees, frontman John Dwyer bends time and space with his solo career. Devoid of much direction, Gong Splat is the newest endeavor that transfers improvisational play styles to the forefront of performance.

Recruiting other members Ryan Sawyer, Greg Coates, Wilder Zoby, and Andres Renteria as the collective to drive the record forward. While the first introduction becomes a title track, “Gong Splat” makes dissections into the record and is a lucid showcase.

Much of the sound coming from Dwyer and his merry band resemble eras of funk and car chases from the 1970s grindhouse. It has some modern elements of synths being added to balance out the rattling and rolling percussion without ever being too much of a lost jam.

“Gong Splat” is rare as a track because it becomes the most coherent and is the easiest track to catch. The following piece, “Cultivated Graves” is a step in an entirely different direction.

While the change is welcome, it takes some time to adjust and to truly stride alongside the band. The bass work formats to a foundation and gives the audience a stable ground to stand on.

Then as the other elements of the instrumentation pile on, Gong Splat loses its structure and instead transports to an entirely different way of playstyle. The guard rails come off and the progressive smacks and attacks that spawn give Dwyer a shifting and culminating backing.

Some tracks, “Anther Dust” for example spend the entire majority being nearly freeform drone without the use of mainstay instruments to put the sound at the forefront. Instead, synths and random splotches of instrumentation run together and separate like water and oil. Much of the fascination through sound comes from the audience’s own imagination of this landscape that Dwyer and the group produce.

Gong Splat primarily is closer to a jazz record in stylist choices and instrumental progression than any other genre. There are times where hard rock or psychedelic tones show up to be present, but they disappear almost as quickly as they appear.

With nine tracks and nearly 40 minutes of sound, the works of Dwyer, Sawyer, Coates, Zoby, and Renteria combine for a fantastic diversion of performance from the material world.

Listen To Gong Splat Here!!! – BandCamp/Spotify