GIFT: Momentary Presence [Album Review]

GIFT
Momentary Presence
Dedstrange Records [2022]

Brooklyn-based GIFT are a psych-rock quintet that have blended a classic shoegaze approach with muscular indie guitars and airy vocals to create a memorable debut in Momentary Presence. What makes this record immediatly stand out is how confident and constructed its ten tracks firmly flow out of your speakers. The tracks swirl and move while GIFT can quickly hit you with a riff and turnkey the vocals with distortion.

From the opening track, “When You Feel It Come Around,” you are instantly overwhelmed with a sonic wave of building instruments and vocals from lead TJ Freda that just sit above the haze as the track slowly burns. It is the perfect setup for highlight track “Gumball Garden,” which showcases the full skills of GIFT. The song has a plentiful amount of strong guitar runs and synths as its drums hit harder than any other song on the album. On the following “Share the Present,” GIFT continue with clean drum beats and floating synthesizers. The rest of the record follows suit and completes any type of psych-rock journey you were hoping to take with tracks that continue to push boundaries.

GIFT succeed because they do not attempt to reinvent the wheel across Momentary Presence. Instead, their focus is taking what has worked over decades from the psych-rock genre and modernizing it into their own catchy groove. From Freda’s hypnotic voice to drenching harmonizing vocals in reverb, GIFT have produced a debut that stands out as one of the better psych releases this year and has established a promising future for this new group.

KEY TRACKS
“Gumball Garden” / “Share The Present” / “Feather”

ARTISTS WITH SIMILAR FIRE
Tame Impala / The Soundtrack Of Our Lives / Acid Dad

GIFT LINKS
Official Website | Instagram | Twitter | Bandcamp | Dedstrange Records

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Christopher Anthony

Christopher Anthony, a passionate supporter of new music, managed a record store and produced alternative video shows in the '90s. Transitioning into the 2000s, he became a prolific music blogger, chronicling the scene with a positive view. His mission: to discover the latest indie releases and share them with you!

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