Mass Gothic – Mass Gothic

Here comes the cliché: there’s a handful of good songs on Mass Gothic – enough to constitute a strong, promising EP. A good album it is not, however, which is a shame given the alluring sound ex-Hooray for Earth frontman Noel Heroux sketches on Nice Night and Soul; a sort of downtempo indie rock with meaty, dour guitars filtered through glitchy effects. Pier Pressure and Money Counter are the other keepers, the former a patient melodic number which, sporting ethereal keys and a chopped up drum solo, could pass for a gloomy Tame Impala cut.

The remainder ranges from merely bland to bloated, finding Heroux repeatedly straining to muster a convincing sense of tension. Haphazard sing-a-long Every Night You’ve Got To Save Me is just plain annoying and isn’t helped by its likeness to Future Islands’ monster tune Seasons (Waiting on You), but thankfully it’s the record’s only drastic misfire. Nevertheless, there’s still too much filler here to warrant an unqualified thumbs up. [Andrew Gordon]