ALBUM REVIEW: Gas Lit – Divide and Dissolve

You don’t even need to press play to get an idea of what experimental duo DIVIDE AND DISSOLVE are about. The title, Gas Lit, implies so much about the themes within, no matter how abstract they may be when the music starts.

To be gas lit is to be made to question your own mental state. It has traditionally been used to attack women but can just as easily be applied to people who have lost their country to a foreign power, which tells them it is for the best. Or to people of colour depicted negatively in the media to justify the crimes against them.

That DIVIDE AND DISSOLVE have tackled this insidious issue in their own unique style should be no surprise. They have been fiercely political since dropping their debut EP TFW in 2016, standing against fascism, misogyny and colonialism amongst others. Their instrumental records approach these topics through off-kilter interludes, crushing doom and long drone passages.

Gas Lit is without a doubt their most accomplished statement yet. Oblique opens with a wavering string melody. It’s something beautiful like, to take their theme somewhat literally, the lands that have been taken as colonies are. This grows into something more sinister as Sylvie Nehill starts pounding the drums, the melodies in the background twisting out of shape. The production of Gas Lit gives it a contradictory feel, a no doubt purposeful move to contrast the moments of beauty with the rawer aspects. The drumming sounds off the cuff and fuzzy, like you’re hearing the transition period when 80s hardcore kids decided to start sludge bands.

Prove It is more direct. Downtuned guitar lines from Takiaya Reed loop behind a wall of feedback. It’s DIVIDE AND DISSOLVE at their easiest to categorise (neither a positive nor a negative point there), delivering crushing doom that is as good as anything in this genre. At this point it should be mentioned that the video for Prove It says a hell of a lot about what went into this track. DIVIDE AND DISSOLVE are incredible at giving concise and eloquent explanations about the experiences that build these tracks and while the album stands up on its own, it is well worth diving into their views to get a fuller experience.

Writer and artist Minori Sanchiz-Fung delivers a thoughtful spoken-word piece for Did You Have Something To Do With It. It’s poetry that works on many levels. A critique of colonialism that could also apply to capitalism, racism and misogyny. Their words are backed by a gentle, repeating electric hum, which feeds into the sharp notes that open Denial. This grows like a classic horror soundtrack, filling the listener with unease until it breaks apart and the band let loose.

The drums take the foreground again, pummelling their way through the seven-minute track, while the guitar lines follow their lead, fuzzed up and backed with hints of electronica. When the pace slows further, the track becomes hypnotic, a near-perfect summation of gaslighting. It goes deeper, stripping the music back further and further until it stops. It goes back to the wavering strings. Like it never happened. Denial feels like a centrepiece in the album. Pulling together the threads of the first three tracks, so that they can be expanded upon. Far From Ideal is a two-minute flurry of drumming and distortion, with great slabs of guitar noise forcing its way into the second half of the track.

Reed takes the lead on It’s Really Complicated, with the drums pushed way back into the mix. Exploring drone territory, guitar lines draw out and repeat, so distorted that they seem to pulsate and create a rhythm that moves alongside the percussion. It’s a densely packed track, with moments buried deep in the production and that slowly reveal themselves on repeat listens.

Ambient sound mixes with classical stylings on Mental Gymnastics to profound effect. As you approach the end of the album, this feels like a new day and is the most hopeful that Gas Lit has sounded. As if the noise of the earlier tracks was a night of terror. There’s still a mournful tone throughout, which transitions into We Are Really Worried About You. The closing track holds on to those moments of beauty and then tears them apart with a crunching riff, pushing forward like a vengeful monolith. The gentle refrain continues in the background but is overrun by the guitar and drums. It’s another purposeful production choice. You leave Gas Lit feeling like every second of music on this album has been carefully thought through to best represent the themes.

Gas Lit is not only an excellent album, it’s an important one that demands repeat listens. DIVIDE AND DISSOLVE are without a doubt one of the most talented doom and experimental bands active today and the fact that they are using this platform to stand up for something makes it all the more vital.

Rating: 10/10

Gas Lit is set for release on January 29th via Invada.

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