An enveloping, percussive-centric take on doomgaze
This Will Destroy You, a post-rock quartet from San Marcos with over a decade’s worth of melodiously noisy experimental music, has made their comeback with New Others Part One on September 22, 2018. Based in Los Angeles, the band is currently comprised of Jeremy Galindo and Christopher King on guitar, Jesse Kees on bass and keys, and Robi Gonzalez on drums. With songs like the epic “They Move on Tracks of Never-Ending Light” from their self-titled and “Dustism” from their 2014 release, Another Language, under their belt, This Will Destroy You have firmly cemented themselves as major players of the elusive world of experimental post-rock. With their most recent LP, New Others Part One, This Will Destroy You continue to provide heavy-handed bliss to their loyal fans.
New Others Part One starts off with “Melted Jubilee,” which is quite aptly named. Neatly rhythmic drums set an intricate heartbeat for the track, dusted with bright synths and twinkling chimes. Right off the bat, This Will Destroy You condense many layers of textures and sound on top of each other, without ever being too heavy-handed. Instead, each layer is thin and fluid, flowing freely with all the others that surround it. A scratchy noise cuts through these layers in the second half, creating a contrast that highlights the elegance of the soft layers that it moves through. “Melted Jubilee” and its reserved joy convey a newfound curiosity that set the tone for New Others Part One.
With “Syncage,” things take a turn towards electronica. Sure, This Will Destroy You have always experimented with synths and distortion, but “Syncage” sounds especially electric. It starts off with lo-fi bleeps, overlapping into a quilt of computerized hums. Squeals of a distorted music box melody barely make it past the rumbling synths, now coming in uniformly. The hazy electronica of the first minute erupts into energetic anarchy with intense guitars and a math-rock drum beat. Even with everything going on, the calm of the beginning can still be heard, gentle and immersive behind the chaos of the guitars and drums. There is a muffled quality to “Syncage,” almost as if everything was happening in the room next door, and listeners are experiencing the second-hand intensity from a separate place. As the smashing guitars and drums fade away, all that’s left are the squeaks of the music box melody and the ambient hums that surround it. It drifts into complete silence, allowing listeners to catch their breath from the intensity that This Will Destroy You exposed them to.
Though New Others Part One is comprised of solemn, mostly-slow cuts that evolve into something more unrestrained, such as the slow-churning epic “Weeping Willow” or the somber and percussive “Like This,” it ends on a similar note as the one it opened with on “Melted Jubilee.” The final track “Go Away Closer” immediately opens with a bright melody, leaning more towards traditional song structure compared to the preceding songs. With a stand-out drum solo and the beloved wall of noise, it combines sharp notes from its guitars, pianos and percussion, creating an intensity that This Will Destroy You are loved for. While everything fades out to a submerged hum, the drums, echoed and hypnotic, play until the very end. On New Others Part One, This Will Destroy You shine a spotlight on their percussion, allowing it to be the sometimes erratic, sometimes stabilizing heartbeat of another excellent execution of their signature doomgaze.
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