EP REVIEW: Too Late Now – male//gaze

Fans of MALE//GAZE rejoice, they are back with their brand new EP; Too Late Now. With their last full length album coming back in 2022, we have been treated to a smattering of singles between then and now. It has whetted our whistle nicely but Too Late Now is here to give us an extended taste of what we have been missing. A calming short journey that feels calming and angelic which does pack an emotional punch, proving to be a late comer in one of the best releases this year. 

Now, when you first start Too Late Now, there could be a feeling that you have entered the afterlife with the ethereal and atmospheric opening. You haven’t entered the afterlife, that’s just the opening track Falling. It’s a sprawling work of art full of delightful tinkering wind chimes, a simple piano tune and otherworldly singing which brings a delightful balance of beauty and vulnerability, very similar to the music of the wonderful EIVØR. The song itself builds and builds until it reaches a huge cresciendo until it stops as a static sound takes over as it bleeds into the next track of the EP. The pace of Too Late Now quickens as second track Get Well comes into play. The otherworldly vocals remain but the track itself is led by a wonderfully fuzzy guitar which runs alongside the huge crashing drums perfectly. It’s cathartic, with screamed vocals, reminiscent of ENTER SHIKARI’s Rou Reynolds propping up the song in the background as all the sounds on display create a cavalcade of beauty that leaves you wanting to play the song all over again. 

Changing up the sound on Too Late Now is the third track Soft & Quiet. A song that is foreboding and haunting in nature yet the beauty of that has guided the EP remains. A delightfully devilish synthesiser is the heartbeat of this song acting as its driving force as it pulsates alongside the equally haunting vocals before ending in a whirlwind of sound as all we’ve heard on the album combines for an epic ending to the track. The drums are thunderous, the guitars wail with the vocals remaining that one focal point that keeps this ship balanced. SLAYMAXXING turns Too Late Now on its head completely. You’d be surprised to see a song this heavy would fit on this EP but it’s always nice to be proven wrong sometimes. Clocking in at just over a minute, the steady riff and electro noises are like if BRING ME THE HORIZON and ENTER SHIKARI had a baby which sums up this track perfectly. 

Speak (For Me) is up next, clocking in at over six minutes, it’s the longest track on Too Late Now by quite a large margin. Seeing this length may put you off at first, but if you stick with it, it is 100% worth it. A slow building opus that brings the EP back to its ethereal vibe. The instrumental aspect is fairly simple but hugely effective. It gives you the feeling you’re floating through a starry cosmos as you travel to the far reaches of the universe before being pulled back to reality. Compared to the other songs on this EP, Speak (For Me) aims high and almost feels stadium size, if this was played in a venue of that size, you can be sure that every note would hit every gap there. Returning sees the EP out in a triumphant manner. A driving riff opens the track before subsiding and making way for the vocals, it’s one of the quicker paced tracks on the EP but is still able to match the quality of every track that came before it. One last time you’re left feeling slightly emotional as it guides you to its finish. When it finally does, you’re eager to play it through once more. 

Too Late Now is nothing short of triumphant. Every so often you come across a band that deserves to be much more popular than they should be, MALE//GAZE are that band. If you’re going through hard times, then this is the EP for you as it makes you feel joy, sorrow but also fills you with a cathartic element letting you know that everything is going to be all right, and we all need something like that every now and then. If you don’t listen to this, you’re missing out. It is not to be slept on. 

Rating: 9/10

Too Late Now is out now via self-release.

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