Kelly Kirwan
Tiergarten is the latest Brooklyn-based band to step forth from the ether, their sound riddled with nods to '90s alternative rock, post-punk, and early 2000s influences like Autolux—along with their own present-day quirk, of course. With their debut album on the brink of release, Tiergarten has dropped a single that crinkles with reverb and is driven by a frantic (but controlled) drum and bass line: "Aeons (Infinity Glow)".
It's a song crafted from a dark palette, with brooding and twisted instrumentals juxtaposed against even-keeled, shoe-gaze-inspired vocals. The lyrics are delivered in a drawn-out lull, "Sugar crash / Coming down now / I can’t save you," alluding some kind of chemical high and self-destructive path to which a friend can no longer bear witness. As the band said to New Noise magazine, "Aeons (Infinity Glow)" grapples with "finding the light at the end of the tunnel, even if it takes Aeons."
It's a theme that persists throughout their entire album, Magnificent Desolation—a title also imbued with a subtle astronomical reference (it's the phrase used by Buzz Aldrin to describe the moon). It's a nice fit for Tiergarten, whose first single teeters on the edge of chaos but never quite succumbs to the black hole. The moderate dose of distortion that lines their tracks is like a satellite gone momentarily haywire on the fringes of our atmosphere, and their propensity for the ethereal is enough to prick your ears and pique your interest. Where Tiergarten goes, we're inclined to follow.