by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
It’s been three long years since Brooklyn-via-Boston’s Coaches released their stellar Shush EP, a record that combined all the finest elements of shoegaze with songwriting that used subtlety to create a swarming pop hooks. The band, which includes as many as seven musicians among their ranks on the recording, are set for another winter release as their latest, A Bright Crumb of Steel is due out this Friday, November 30th. Perhaps the warm blanket of guitars inherent in the band’s layered shoegaze sounds best in the dark and chilly months… or perhaps the band are once again tying their new release in with their annual “Noise For Toys” charity shows (happening this year at Brooklyn’s Little Skips on the 30th). Either way, Coaches have returned and that’s always a good thing.
“White Noise/White Boys,” the album’s first single and lead track, is a condensed surge of the band’s shoegaze meets “space rock” sound, distilled to only the most harrowing moments of warped hooks, dense feedback, and deliberately restrained earworms. When the song slinks into the ether nearly a minute in, they contort the balance between tension and beauty with an ominous attention to detail that would make bands like Failure and Swervedriver proud. Speaking about the song, Brady Custis shared:
“‘White Noise/White Boys’ is a criticism not just of white supremacy generally, but of passive “boys” who feel that because they had no choice but to be born white and male, that they don’t need to be involved in mitigating the damage their privilege so often results in. White male supremacy casts its shadow across the whole country and every white male who chooses to be indifferent to that fact makes the shadow grow longer.”
Coaches’ A Bright Crumb Of Steel is out November 30th.