Anatomy of the Heads - Summer Sunset Retreat (Split​-​EP w​/​GOLD)

Released: August 19

Being a split, Summer Sunset Retreat has two glaringly different parts to it. The first part is weird, ambient, dreamy, and simply surreal. The second part violently drags you out of the delirious comfort you have been entranced in for the last fifteen to twenty minutes and exposes you to a harsh and grating reality. It's a fun little dichotomy, one that threw me off massively when the switch happened. But I can easily see the dynamic the two artists are trying to portray as something of two sides of the coin kind of thing. 

On the first half of the album, Anatomy of the Heads gives us something hazy and enjoyable as soft and static-y tones wash around with in-flight announcements periodically bumping in. It all feels kind of there's an understated 80's vibe going on throughout with these smooth saxophone licks and a soft backing that feels like a smooth jazz muzak kind of thing. It's a little hard to explain but as soon as you hear it you know the vibe. We are treating to these soft sounds around with the sounds of a jet flying through the air as you would hear it from the inside (maybe a little of the outside) and it gives you the fuzziest feeling of traveling on vacation to get a little bit of rest and relaxation. 

Once the second part of the album comes on, all those warm fuzzy feeling are gone and there's just the seething anger of having to navigate airports, get transportation, deal with all the other people traveling around you, and all the other annoyances of vacationing. Gold does a wonderful job of condensing this frustration into a simmering noise wall in which you get that low drone of the buzzing energy around you as indistinct and incoherent voices pop in and out, like the passing conversations that you can barely hear or interpret in a crowded space. It's a very cool dynamic for the album and honestly feels quite like the vacation experience in an audible format.