Gloria

Dustin Wongs approach to both the guitar and composition on a larger scale have resulted in the creation of his own language. Over the course of several decades, Wongs work has grown from ultra-processed guitar loops to something more akin to experimental sound design, utilizing both complex editing and on-the-fly experimentation in his mixing, and expanding the sonic picture by adding synthesizer tones and the electronically manipulated sound of his own voice. The more technical side of the process has always served Wongs highly emotional expressions, and nowhere has emotion taken a more central role than on Gloria, an album inspired by and dedicated to his grandmother Gloria Violet Lee Wong. Gloria passed away in January of 2024 at the age of 95, and a year after she and grandson Dustin took a West Coast road trip. Memories of that trip and reflections on his grandmothers life and her impact on his own life are the primary inspiration for Gloria. The atmosphere throughout most of these 14 pieces is gentle, playful, and sweet, with Wong twisting his voice, guitar, and electronics into bubbly, percussive, and floating sounds that evoke scenes of joy and familial love. "Glass Beach" stumbles slowly into being, starting out as a collection of arrhythmic blips and synth clicks, but adding keyboard tones and digitized vocal melodies until an otherworldly song forms around the confusion. Other tracks maintain this free-floating and open feeling, especially brief interludes like "Gloria & Backman on the Phone" or the wobbly guitar-noodling silliness of the minute-long "Bear Hotel, Grants Pass." Other songs feel more traditionally formed, with "Memories of Cordelia" coasting happily along between tropical, almost surfy guitar lines, reverb-bathed electronic drum hits, and sweeps of synthesizer that sound like spaceships taking off. By the end of the album, there are even slight nods to traditional hymns, with quick-to-fade interpretations of "Angels We Have Heard on High" melting in and out of other musical themes. All of Gloria feels as warm and wholesome as the road trip that inspired it. Its an elegy void of sadness, Wong choosing to honor the memory of his grandmother by embracing the beauty of the time they shared together, and reflecting on how much she brought to the world with more smiles than anguish. Its among the more hopeful and lovely monuments to loss of its type, serving as a reminder to feel grateful for all the time were given with those we love. With Gloria, Wong explores that gratitude thoroughly, and creates something inspiring with what he finds. ~ Fred Thomas