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Great Distances (Big Stir Single No. 121)

by Gospel Swamps

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David Zientara
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1.
Great Distances 03:19
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2.
Awkward City Limits 04:28
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Friday, March 19 brings a cryptic surprise from the enchanted depths of GOSPEL SWAMPS: their new single “Great Distances” b/w “Awkward City Limits”. It's up for pre-order now at bigstirrecords.bandcamp.com and marks the band's official debut. The A-side is a love song. The B-side is a love story. Almost everything else about the release is shrouded in mystery.

All we really know about GOSPEL SWAMPS is that they're from “somewhere down south”, seem to be fond of trees, and display a gift for crafting songs of loss and longing steeped in “the poetry of unloved places”, to quote the B-side. The murky mystique surrounding their identity suits a band who would cite The Church, early R.E.M., Game Theory and Let's Active as primary influences. Indeed, “Great Distances”, with its delicate piano, 12-string and viola filigree over pounding tribal drums, evokes everything about the heyday of '80s college rock while still sounding fresh and thrilling... there's something about it that's just hard to pin down, but the hooks are sharply in focus.

The puzzle of GOSPEL SWAMPS only becomes more intricate on the strikingly different B-side. “Awkward City Limits” relays the tale of a Mr. & Mrs. Sisyphus on a journey through some of the most unfortunately named of places, riding a choppy groove spiked with distorted strings, tense guitars and insistent keyboards, stopping along the drive for a nod to a Peter Gabriel classic. We're told the protagonists are loosely modeled on cult comic icons Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner and that the song explores the hope that springs from artistic collaboration in even the bleakest and most indifferent of circumstances.

Musically, “Great Distances” is simply credited as having been performed by Gospel Swamps and mixed by NICK FRATER. “Awkward City Limits” was co-written with NATHANIEL MYER who also gives the song its harder rocking infrastructure, providing lead guitar, keyboards and bass. It remains to be seen whether anything more will be revealed about Gospel Swamps before their debut album arrives in April on Big Stir Records.

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released January 1, 2016

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