On March 15th, Gouge Away released a record that I had been waiting for with great anticipation ever since they started to cryptically tease its existence several months ago. During my first listen, I was maybe three quarters of the way through side A when I realized that I was listening to something special. And that’s a feeling I hadn’t had since I first listened to Careening by Hammered Hulls back in October of 2022.
There is so much density packed into the 34:30 run time of Deep Sage and I have no idea how Gouge Away pulled it off. There are some serious Amphetamine Reptile/Touch & Go vibes throughout the entire album. It sounds as if the record could have come out of Chicago or the Pacific Northwest in the mid to late 90s right alongside the Jesus Lizard, Helmet or KARP. I can even hear where Steve Albini would have fucked up the nuance of the mix and flattened out any character the songs would have had.
Luckily, Steve Albini was nowhere near this record and every ounce of Jack Shirley’s production work pushes each song further. I listen to a lot of records and I have heard very few sonically perfect albums but I think Deep Sage might be one of them. It was mostly recorded live to two inch tape and didn’t hit the digital realm until the mastering process. This record should not be listened to over shitty Bluetooth earbuds or headphones. A proper stereo set up or decent wired headphones is the only way to do this record justice and to actually hear all of the work that went into it. I know most people choose to stream music for convenience and entertainment but I highly recommend the listener put in the bare minimum of effort to experience this one. There are so many layers on this record that would be lost in translation with the common modes of listening.
Gouge Away have expanded their sound beyond any category that someone might want to put the band in. I could hear their attempts to break out of the “hardcore” mold in elements of all of their previous releases and always hoped that they’d keep pushing into new territory. Deep Sage is that new territory and it suits the band quite well.
I have listened to this record repeatedly since it came out and still find myself stopped in my tracks and stunned at various parts throughout. Even in trying to write this thing I’d end up putting the computer aside and feel perfectly content in watching the record spin as it played. Then I’d flip the record over and do it again.
I am absolutely certain that all of the hardcore bros, with their tanktops and gym shorts, are going to hate Deep Sage because they won’t be able to figure out how to do their Mary Lou Retton floor routines to expertly crafted songs. They’ll be too busy gatekeeping and screaming about having been betrayed to the same tired riffs and double bass kick drum to let this record teach them something.
How dare a group of artists grow and evolve together. I’m sure there will be a similar backlash to Gouge Away as there was to Snapcase when they started pushing the boundaries of what they were doing in the early 2000s. Music is art and does not have a rigid diagram for what it should or shouldn’t be. And wouldn’t the same bands putting out the same records over and over again end up getting boring?
Unfortunately, I have yet to cross paths with Gouge Away. I almost saw them in 2020 when they were supposed to open for a band that I can’t remember but the tour was canceled due to the world almost ending. They will be touring with METZ, who also seem to be allergic to the Pittsburgh area, in the near future but there were no shows within a drivable distance to me so I will continue to be infatuated with both bands from afar.
Like several other bands, I did not think that Gouge Away survived the downtime of the pandemic. The vocalist, Christina Michelle, abandoned the band’s home state of Florida for the other side of the country and ended up playing bass in the band Nothing when they opened for Boris in 2022. I was pleasantly surprised to see her playing in Nothing and she looked like she was having a blast doing it. Things looked bleak on the Gouge Away front and then out of nowhere the first single “Idealized” hit the internet.
It was the first new music from the band since the “Consider”/”Wave Of Mutilation” single came out. And, by the way, I will always enjoy the irony of a band named Gouge Away covering any other Pixies song than “Gouge Away.” Their version of “Wave Of Mutilation” was stellar and took no prisoners.
From the looks of the situation, I thought “Idealized” was a leftover track from an old session and the band was cleaning out the vault. The song was great and I wanted to hear more but it did not fit in or have the feel of the previously known work of the band so I figured it was a b-side being given the light of day and that was that. A period of time went by and Deep Sage was officially announced along with the next single, “Stuck In A Dream,” which was followed by me shitting the proverbial brick and setting my credit card on fire with vinyl preorders.
There were a handful of different options for colored vinyl and I went full record nerd and ordered up the ones that I could directly from the label. Of course, none of the stores in Pittsburgh that I usually haunt stocked the blue/black version that was slated for “indie” record stores so I will be at the mercy of the internet for that one along with the blue/white tour only version.
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