Tonight's Whispering Album

Tonight’s Whispering is full of poison vapor synths and the hailstorm guitars that Gondoliers has been mapping out for the past few years behind the demented navigation of vocalist John Manson. Here, the band distills their sickened mind-meld of generations of the thorniest rock possible – laserstorm prog, the gnarled electronics of Einsturzende Neubauten, the off-balance drums of Jawbox, guitars that swerve between Duane Denison and Thurston Moore all with the looseness and fun of a Pavement album.

There are sleek, ice cold synth pads from ‘80s dystopian night clubs. There are uncomfortable guitars tangled up and discarded from post-hardcore garbage trucks. Sickened images from feverish dreams slip past it in an oily fog. The band conjures a mish-mash of John Carpenter films playing melted and out of order at all the wrong speeds. Casts of pilgrims, castaways, backyard hobos, lusting visitors with little wrists, archrivals, and narcissistic artists jump out of shadows. The band changes directions without the slightest warning. Gondoliers are a dangerous, messy band. Part twisted dance band, part jarring noise band, but not without familiarity. Like an old art damaged drinking buddy, Tonight’s Whispering pulls you in with its eccentricities and does things that stick in your craw for months after they’ve left. It’s a strange world and Gondoliers are cool with it.