song: "Evacuate" - Joyero + "Body Count" - Gauche
photo: Dan Stack
The chaos of a major weather event is punctuated with emotion and the ever-looming reminder that a number of lives will soon face disruption, and even loss. It’s easy to watch it all from afar on television, but when you’re the one waiting for that event to actually arrive or you’re the one experiencing it, you’re left to consider what comes now, and next; anxiety, uncertainty, and a bundle of emotion all tightly wound about your heart. Andy Stack (Joyero) and Gauche explored those feelings on a previously released split 7”.
As the title of Joyero’s contribution would suggest, “Evacuate” considers the act of leaving. The single is a rolling, evolving tide of instrumental evolutions. There’s a looming feeling of sadness, a fog presented in the keys, and unexpected addition of stray effects ranging from a prickled string to a ringing bel. Throughout it all, Stack’s falsetto acts as a soft weight, his account of evacuation preparations etched in a touch of honeyed haze.
As Andy Stack explained to TGE of the track, “This song was written during a state of emergency. A hurricane was passing over my new home of North Carolina. Everyone was gripped by fear and uncertainty, and normal life shut down for a few days. Some big limbs were broken and there was some cleaning up to do, but in the end, the storm passed and the sky cleared.”
photo: Jen Dessinger
Gauche also explores the disruption of a hurricane, and while the instrumentals are seemingly upbeat, bopping along through surf rock-inspired guitars and group harmonies, “Body Count” conveys a deeply important message.
As the band told TGE: “The song was written in the wake of Hurricane Maria. Puerto Rico was left with no water or electricity for the following six months. It’s been two years, and we still have no idea how many people died in the aftermath. There is a certain devastation that comes with seeing firsthand how our white supremacist country has no regard for the lives of people of color. It’s around us today, and it has always been there. There’s no turning away from the harms of American imperialism and colonialism.”
Both singles previously appeared on a 7’ split that was given to MRG30 subscribers. The October 2nd marks its digital streaming release, and follows the release of Joyero’s Release the Dogs, which dropped in August, and A People’s History of Gauche, released by Gauche in July. Now released digitally, a portion of digital sales from both tracks will benefit Honor The Earth.