Having previously revealed the faintly ‘yacht-rocky’ Lotus, from their forthcoming Kazuashita full-length, Gang Gang Dance maintain a similar, latently melancholy atmosphere for J-TREE (below). All susurrating guitars, skittering rhythmic bits, and fifths which, admittedly, have the whiff of slowed Whigfield to them, the roots of this one may hold firm, but it’s Lizzi Bougatsos’ diaphanous, flighty vocal which quite rightly predominates for the most part. Intended as “a sonic dialogue between ourselves and the majesty of wide open space in nature”, and featuring a rousing, spoken interlude by Shiyé Bidziil of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, railing against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, it’s expansive, supremely exploratory stuff from an ensemble who are not only returning after far too long away, but so too returning to the very height of their figurative game.
Kazuashita is available from June 22nd via 4AD.