Gold : " Why Aren't You Laughing"

Right from the first few moments of Gold's 4th album you can hear they are making the most of what works for them while adding a depth of atmosphere and feeling. The vocals are a little more introspective. There is more brooding to "Things I Wish I Never Knew" . If you told Me this was from the 4AD archives I would believe you.There is a similar sonic intensity to "the Garlands" where the more some fey vocals were cast against a more aggressive backdrop. You can here more of a metal influence lurking in this song. The lyrics to the title track have a slight feminist undertone, and the song does get aggressive despite it's smooth start. She is back to a more depressed detachment on "Please Tell Me You Are Not the Future". If this was an American band I might suspect a political slant to the lyrics here, but being Dutch they really don't care and paint in broader strokes.

The drums continue to build the tension on "Taken By the Storm". For some reason the Gathering comes to ind on this song. It builds into something almost black metal in it's swell. The vocals take an even more somber turn on "Wide-eyed". This song is both darker and heavier. "Lack of Skill" picks up the pace. This song is not as compelling as the previous ones. The buzz of tremolo picked tension spurns "Truly, truly Disappointed". Once again while I appreciate the atmosphere, the vocals are not locked in to truly hook me as they have raised the bar pretty high for themselves already. The guitar line to "Killing at Least 13 " reminds me something from the Twin Peaks soundtrack. This song is more broken down and allows the vocals more room. They have some really great guitar tones on this album.

The guitar part to "Mounting into Bitterness" is more post-punk in how it moves. This suits her voice. It picks up pace into a brisk passage finding them locking back into their higher level of songwriting. The minimal "Till Death Do Us Part" coasts on her vocals for the first half of the song before percussion comes in. It's a very haunting form of post-rock. Overall I like this album. The first act is strong enough for me to round it up to a 9.5.