Dreamy, melancholic, Midwest emo

LA band Gal Pal is well versed in melancholia. This and Other Gestures would sound just as at home in the late ’90s or ’10s as it does now. Drawing influence across decades and genres of angst-filled music, the album’s soft vocals and thrum of guitar convey a universal feeling of despair, an era-spanning soundtrack for lying on the floor in the dark.

One of the most notable and enjoyable aspects of This and Other Gestures are the Midwest emo influences. Set to cymbal-heavy garage drums, Gal Pal plays with the hallmarks of the now-vintage genre. Math rock arpeggios run through the album and twitchy, irregular rhythms often spiraling into dissonance. Not shying away from the late ’90s teenage despair that makes Midwest emo a cathartic listen, Gal Pal plays with spoken word intros in “King Mama” and “Pleasures,” an endearing tongue-in-cheek nod to the sampling commonly used by bands like American Football and Modern Baseball.

Gal Pal’s music is less straightforward than that of their predecessors. In lieu of shouty, untrained vocals, Gal Pal’s songs are elevated by soft, layered harmonies, eerily goth in songs like “Say No” and shoegaze-adjacent in songs like “Design.” Even the more rock-forward vocals sound gauzy and filtered. Electronic flares also set the music apart from traditional Midwest emo, such as the smooth horn effects in “Pleasures” and “Pure” and the death rattle of a drum backing “Think About Your Crush.” At best, this prickle of electronica comes off as avant-garde, with an uncanny ethereality reminiscent of modern indie artists like Alex G. At worst, however, these effects feel out of place when contrasted with Gal Pal’s otherwise vintage feel, landing the band’s sound just short of 70s prog rock.

Clocking in at 54 minutes, most of the album’s run time is filled by sulky, five minute songs, bleeding into each other at the edges. There’s no break from the album’s melancholic sound, no upbeat tracks hidden in the clamor and distortion. While This and Other Gestures sets a mood very skillfully, several of its standout tracks, such as “Think About Your Crush” and “Angel In The Flesh” were notable simply because their sound was marginally different from the rest of the album, giving listeners a break from the sometimes oppressive heaviness. This stylistic sameness at times reminisces early 2010s indie artists like Flatsound and Salvia Palth, insistent in their own depressive aesthetic. While the album certainly isn’t bad, sitting down to listen in full feels a bit like a red flag, not something done in a healthy state of mind.

While no one can be blamed for occasionally wanting to shout “I’m fine” over and over to the churning guitar of “Say No” or stare at the ceiling to the soft hypnosis of “Design,” Gal Pal’s newest album likely holds the most appeal for fans of the eerie and melancholic. An elevated take on midwest emo roots, This and Other Gestures holds catharsis both in its garage rock edge and in its soft complexity.