Kelly Kirwan
Gorgeous Bully's name and sound both revel in opposites. On one side are smooth edges and a welcoming symmetry—on the other, a clenched fist, a few ruffled feathers, and a willingness to strike and sting. It’s the sort of ironic, contradictory name that does well in teasing the band’s personality. Their latest EP, Holsten, chugs along with the staccato head-bang of punk, and the stripped-down facets of bedroom pop. These two elements are held tautly together throughout Gorgeous Bully’s sound, which somehow manages to be both gritty and easy listening.
Holsten is an array of six concise and condensed tracks, with the longest song, "autoimmune," clocking in at just over three minutes. It begins with a deep, rumbling bass and rich resonance, as a healthy dose of distortion adds a pixelated edge to their chord arrangements. "What will they say?” we hear, as if it’s spoken through a megaphone, a call to action that’s just barely more than nonchalant. He toys with the word, repeating it twice, before arriving at the crux of it all: “What will they say when you’re gone?” Is it a genuine musing, or a threat? Towards the end, Gorgeous Bully sings, “You’ll be all right…” as the guitar lines become more frayed, an abrupt finish cutting off the track entirely.
Then there’s the album’s closer, "can’t explain," which rolls together like a series of run-on sentences, opening with, “I was feeling strange that evening / Think it’s something I can’t explain / Birds were singing / I was drinking / Feeling something I can’t explain.” The way the vocals rise and fall, the half-rhyme of the lyrics, and the subdued grumble of the instruments come together in a way that’s hypnotic. Just under two minutes, it’s a personal favorite off Holsten, capturing that feeling of surreal detachment that comes from too much introspection. The track, and the EP as a whole, will leave you swimming in rich reverberations and songs that sink in instantly.