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audiObelisk: Stream New Gonga Album Concrescence in its Entirety

This past weekend, on a bill with like-minded riffers Sigiriya and Gorilla, Bristol-based trio Gonga played the release show for their third album, Concrescence. The official release date for the six-track/45-minute offering is Oct. 7, and it’s the first Gonga outing not to be issued through Invada Records and the band’s first as an instrumental three-piece, having parted ways with guitarist/vocalist Joe Volk since their last full-length, 2008’s II: Transmigration (he also appeared on 2012’s digital Precession EP, which was recorded in 2007), amid other lineup shuffles around founding guitarist George Elgie and drummer Thomas Elgie. On Concrescence, the Elgie brothers are joined by bassist Latch Manghat, and as the name might imply, it’s an earthy concoction the three players have solidified around.

But also a varied one. Opening with the 10-minute stretch of languid riffing in “Miasma,” Gonga set an immediately hypnotic course for Concrescence, psychedelic without lushness or excess layering, keeping a natural sound that remains in place even as later cuts like “Tungsten Gold” bring a bounce to their musical step that’s part stoner traditionalism and part garage rock rawness. Whatever mood a given track adopts, from the rush that emerges on “Miasma” to the thickened shuffle of the subsequent “Calumet Altar,” Gonga hold firm to a humanity that’s not easy to convey in songs without vocals, and for anyone who might chase down tonal richness, George and Latch offer tube-powered organic fare that only becomes more engaging on repeat listens.

A classically progressive sensibility arises within “Another Day Gone” and gives into some of Concrescence‘s most intricate lead work in the song’s second half, but if there was a chance Gonga might get lost in self-indulgence, “Mount Gonga” smashes it with a fervent crash and cyclical stomp. Starts and stops early on feed into more fluid grooving in the midsection, a tension building all the while that finds payoff past the six-minute mark in the album’s heaviest riffing. Not that there’s a shortage of competition in that regard, mind you. They keep tonally consistent even as “Tungsten Gold” seems to nod in the direction of Queens of the Stone Age‘s “Mexicola,” but though there are definitive verses and choruses, one never gets the sense that vocals are missing thanks to well-placed leads and efficient changes.

As a bookend to “Miasma,” which is the longest track on Concrescence, the album’s second longest cut, “Solar Maximum” (9:10), finishes off the record with its most effective linear build and a balance of airier, cosmic guitar work and the by-now-familiar crunch that earlier tracks seemed to shy away from eliciting. One can’t help but wonder if it could be a sign of things to come from Gonga in this new incarnation, but I wouldn’t presume to say the band have finished evolving or that they seem willing to settle into any single mode of craft. If anything, solid as Concrescence is, it shows the band — now in their 15th year — as being anything but static.

Today I have the pleasure of streaming the record in its entirety in advance of the official release. Please find it on the player below, and enjoy:

Here is the Music Player. You need to installl flash player to show this cool thing!

Gonga‘s Concrescence is due out Oct. 7 on Tonehenge Recordings. More info at the links below.

Gonga on Thee Facebooks

Gonga on Bandcamp

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