Philadelphia shoegaze outfit They Are Gutting A Body of Water are back after 2022’s LUCKY STYLES. With The Lotto, the band goes for a more traditional shoegaze sound, all while incorporating the oddities that made their previous work so memorable.

Lyrically, THE LOTTO is as cryptic as shoegaze gets. The harsh guitars on the opening track, the chase, dissolve into bliss before the track’s post-industrial-esque spoken word verse. Throughout the record, singer Douglas Dulgarian delves into addiction, dissociation, and self-reflection. On sour diesel, these themes are paired with dreamlike guitars and Dulgarian’s vocals fading in and out of the mix. The track captures the hazy conflict between

slow crostic is another highlight of the record. The track is surprisingly engaging for a two-minute instrumental where the fuzzy guitars clash against the drums. The band is known to incorporate drum breaks and noise, but on THE LOTTO, these feel like fine-tuning instead of
disruptions. As a whole, the album feels like their most cohesive output yet. On violence iii, shoegaze and noise rock are fused together so effortlessly that it feels less like genre-blending and more like instinct. Every distortion, every burst of static serves a purpose, reinforcing THE LOTTO as the sound of a band fully in command of its chaos.

Previously released as a single, american food is almost hyperpop-esque with the vocal effects used to manipulate Dulgarian’s singing. The track does end up feeling bland compared to the behemoth of riffs and noise-shoegaze fusion that LOTTO is. Nevertheless, it stands as a reminder of the band’s restless ambition and their willingness to take risks to stretch their sound.

herpim opens up with an eerily terrifying sample that reminds of the electronic unease of an early 2010s YouTube creepypasta. Setting the stage for one of the band’s most disorienting closers yet. As the track builds, the guitars are so dissonant that they scratch against the walls of noise they create. The mix is noisy and almost cathartic as Dulgarian describes an emergency landing as a metaphor for rebirth and mortality.

On LOTTO, They Are Gutting a Body of Water return with an album that is cathartic and chaotic, blending crushing guitars, dreamlike electronics, and noisy shoegaze for a snapshot of the band at their most ambitious.

Order LOTTO by They Are Gutting A Body of Water HERE