The Gary

The Gary

Over the past five years, the Gary quietly amassed one of the most bracing catalogs in local music. If the trio's lasting allure wasn't immediately apparent with 2010's Logan, credit an elemental approach to post-punk that dispenses with get-rich-quick gimmickry in favor of gradual shape-shifting. Accordingly, their fifth LP launches with ringing bass notes from Dave Norwood that linger in slow-build tension. Norwood gruffly intones the opening verses to "Blank" with dead-eyed resignation until the band finally crashes in just past the two-minute mark. "Coming Up for Air" is a persistent tight wind that taps into the precision-cut intensity and telegraphed sentiments that once fueled Mission of Burma and Slint. "Fall From High" grows a foreboding sense of doom to the tipping point, momentarily hanging back at the precipice before guitarist Trey Pool and guest violinist Laura Bianco ignite the fiery climax. Amid the ruins, "Let's Cut a Path" becomes the struggler's anthem. "Let's give each other our maps of madness," Norwood implores with sermon-like cadence. When the litany ends, oblique hopefulness rises from the wake.