Until The End Of The World

Gauntlet Hair “Our Scenery”

I wrote a story called At the End of the World with Gauntlet Hair for the Awl, and it was published there yesterday. It’s part of a series of posts this week in which various writers work from the premise that the world will indeed end in 2012, and that 2011 is the last full year of our lives/society/world. My piece is written from the future, around this time next year, and it is about how music culture thrives in the end times. Actually, I’ll let you in on a secret: It’s not about that at all. It’s actually about how music culture right now is fun, vibrant, interesting, and meaningful despite all the assorted downsides you could mention. It’s also something of a sequel to the piece I wrote for the Awl last year, The Ballad of That Guy from Titus Andronicus.

Unlike the Titus Andronicus story, At the End of the World with Gauntlet Hair is not written from the perspective of the band in the title. They just get a brief mention in the final paragraph, an example of something bubbling up right now that may seem ancient just twelve months from now. Something fresh and promising that is on the horizon but will be in the recent past before very long. Also, something with a ridiculous name!

To be honest with you, I put off listening to Gauntlet Hair for a while in 2010 simply because I didn’t want to listen to a band called Gauntlet Hair. So if you’re like “oh, fuck Gauntlet Hair,” I really don’t blame you. But this is good, intriguing stuff that is in line with some current fashions without being predictable or falling into the familiar ruts of newbie bands. The songs on their 7″ have melody and color, and they have a way with reverb that is both heavy-handed and rather skillful. The reverb in “Our Scenery” sounds like a tangible thing, an ethereal noise they have somehow sculpted into a shape it seems as if you could reach out and touch. The physicality is unexpected, and that makes everything else about the song that much more catchy and pretty.

The 7″ is sold out, but you can get the A-side of this single from Forest Family Records.