Review Summary: Stream of chaos
Irish noise-rock group Gilla Band’s fourth album is an ambitious, captivating release executed to perfection, owing to the sonic mania flowing like adrenaline and singer Dara Kiely’s inimitable delivery and lyrical selection. Simply put, the album is overwhelming at times. The sheer amount of unsettling noise combined with the densely packed, personal lyrics feels like dams breaking and trying to keep your head above water. Kiely’s scope of subject matter ricochets from remembering childhood comfort shows and other respites to deep personal struggles, centered on Kiely’s schizophrenia diagnosis and recent loss of his father, many times in the same breath.
Pugnello’s overall musical palette is not that foreign if you have listened to previous Gilla Band releases. Grating feedback, uncanny guitar and synth layers, and disjointed structures abound. However, Pugnello features a perilous symbiosis between the band’s trademark noisy, buzzing disorder and a new, relentless rhythm.
‘Placeholder’, perhaps the most immediate and uptempo track, is centered around an exuberant, massive bass rhythm holding the song together while Kiely swings from frantic, expressive shouting to devolving into hushed, murky whispers. Similarly, ‘Alogia’ has an undeniable groove punctuated by earsplitting attacks of static as Kiely bemoans:
“A steady structure, routine and purpose
That kind of life would be so perfect
Especially 'cause I'm a schizophrenic”
Most of the lyrical content on Pugnello could be classified as a hodgepodge of cryptic musings and whimsical turns of phrase. Conversely, Kiely periodically unleashes brutally blunt confessions that leave no mystery. This is evidenced in songs like ‘The Megazord’
“I use my middle name
I should dye my hair grey
I should be put away
I should be happy
I should be dead”
and ‘Computer Sadness’:
“Shoot me in the head
I wanna be numb
Shoot me in the head
I wanna be young”
Penultimate track Crisp Pop is a behemoth of a song at nearly eight minutes and 700 words. Numerous sources of impending wailing are juxtaposed atop a pleasant, robotic bass groove, making it feel like a dance-party in a hellish fever dream. The latter half of the song descends into true mayhem with Kiely twice reciting a lengthy, nearly indecipherable stream of consciousness while reflecting on his own grief. Kiely ruminates, “I’m milking this death to death” over a dozen times while the song overflows. Pugnello proves once again that sadly much of the most poignant art originates from real-world adversity.
Every track on Pugnello has its own unique mood and soundscape, but it would be silly to try to describe all of them. They are much better to be experienced for yourself.
You are going to have a hard time finding an album as heavy, intense, and haunting as Pugnello this year. With each relisten, you gain a greater appreciation of the sprawling landscape that Gilla Band have painted. It had been nearly four years since the most recent Gilla Band album but the wait was absolutely worth it and then some.
