It Will Be Like Now

北カリフォルニアの人里離れた山奥でColin McCann, Brian Gossman,Eric Fiscusのトリオで活動しているVulture Feather。2024年の大半を通して全米をツアーしていた彼らは研ぎ澄まされたマシンをティム・グリーンのLouder Studiosに持ち帰り今作を制作した。シンプルながらもギターとヴォーカルがデュエットし、で轟音のリズム・セクションがメロディーを奏でる至高のサウンド。

Vulture Feathers Colin McCann and Brian Gossman returned to music after a 15-year break -- a sure sign they absolutely had to share what they created with a wider audience. This drive could be heard within the hopeful momentum of their 2023 debut album, Liminal Fields, but its even more pronounced on It Will Be Like Now, where their determination gives their music a transfixing inevitability. The band says their songs only include "the good parts," and its true: If they shifted from the consoling guitar part that plays over and over on "Blood Knot" as McCann encourages someone close to him to "let your burden fall," listeners would want them to come back to it immediately. The artistic courage it takes to commit to a handful of ideas continues the legacy of Gossman and McCanns previous groups, the 90s post-hardcore band Don Martin Three and the 2000s post-punk experimentalists Wilderness, as well as the transcendence of Lungfish, to whom Vulture Feather is often compared. However, this band is as much about rebirth as tradition, something else It Will Be Like Now makes clear. Joined by drummer Eric Fiscus, McCann and Gossman create a musical bedrock on songs such as "Calling from Afar" that feels more unshakeable than any of their previous work. Likewise, the braying highs and bellowing lows of McCanns vocals -- both on furious, glorious display on "Into Space" -- are more moving than ever. Despite the rousing heft of their music, Vulture Feather dont write anthems, and It Will Be Like Now is at its best when they let deep and complicated emotions coexist. "I will fall/Like your tears/To the ground," McCann intones on "Like Now," one of many moments where the intensity of their empathy is formidable. Another standout, "Only/Holy Name," is so bleak it circles around to hope again. Its a feeling that culminates on "Let It Through" when McCann sings about "shining through the pain" -- the perfect description of Vulture Feathers sound and the thoughtful catharsis they offer listeners on It Will Be Like Now. ~ Heather Phares