Ah, the split. One of the quintessential underground releases, alongside label compilations and the immortal 7". Two bands, usually sharing a label, put out a few of their latest tracks - enough to take up one side of a record each. Minneapolis comrades Cave Light and Gather Data Pray for Death pursue this noble indie ideal on their split EP Ends.
The two bands share the same twisted guitar sensibilities. Notes aren't seen as something to be played; they're threaded together into a rope, tied into the tightest knot possible. Songs shift and shimmer like the sunset on one of Minnesota's 11,842 lakes. No idea overstays its welcome. The math-like randomness that possess these bands is a breath of fresh air. Honestly, we need more bands that are willing to let their songs go over five minutes (and actually fill them with creative music).
Gather Data's side haunts with delirious cacophony. "Swelling Over" menaces with a pointed guitar line and practically shouted lyrics. The band locks in like a math-y assembling line. A whacked-out solo (I certainly didn't expect any guitar pyrotechnics) segues into a wavy outro. The band's second track, "Contact," is relatively subdued for the first half. It deviates between explosive sound and the languid riffs found on "Swelling Over." There's a part where the song suddenly speeds everything up for barely 20 seconds, like when the time starts to run out in a Mario level. Another solo, this time heavily distorted, leads the song off into the horizon.
Meanwhile, Cave Light mine the space between math rock and alt-country. If that sounds weird, that's because it is. If that sounds amazing, that's because it is. "Uptick" is the freakier of the two tracks. One riff sustains the stream-of-consciousness musings without any hesitation. It feels unhinged as the lyrics testify to the difficulties of living and making art: "I'm barely half of fifty and I'm scraping by," "I don't know why I'm writing / I don't know where to send it." Cave Light explores their looser side on "Controlled Slide." Vocal harmonies drift about breezily and the guitars evoke a drunk American Football. The song ascends to a fever pitch before dissolving into a frantic country jam. It's a hoedown with anxiety.
Gather Data and Cave Light toe the line between more conventional indie rock and the noisier, experimental side of the underground. Ends finds both bands in top form.
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