Gloop: Tension EP

Baltimore’s Gloop are a bit more than just a steady hand in the noise-rock pantheon.

Since their inception in 2016, the three-piece, which now sees new bassist Surf Makonnen join vocalis/guitarist, Dominic Giannanoto and drummer Max Detrich, have made every post a winner, releasing three excellent long-players, The Tourist (2018) Smiling Lines (2019) and Crayon Sun (2021), as well as EPs, Maze Maker and Television Fire (both 2022).

Recorded with Danny Gibney in Harrisonburg, Virginia at the end of 2022, Gloop return with new music in the way of the Tension EP. And ahead of its release this Friday, be the first to listen in full below.

Tension sees Gloop calling upon the unhinged nature of The Icarus Line, twisting it with the kind of off-kilter magic of early-era Pixies. Led by Giannanoto, whose performance is raw, gritty, and primal, at times sounding like a young Black Francis being attacked in a park by a family of pit bulls

Gloop are a band unafraid to wear their influences on their sleeves, and it’s this kind of honesty that makes Tension the success it is. Take opening cut, Lizard, which sees the band stretching the same razor wire Shellac spent their existence riding across. A howling blast of sound, fraught with tension and searing energy, and on Blue & Red and Mean Sleeper, Gloop reach new hazardous levels that explode with the kind of untethered nature likened to Joe Cardamone trading blows with Great Falls in some back-alley bar.

With a name like Bonehead, you could probably predict what’s next, as Giannanoto delivers another vicious vocal tirade through the wreckage left from the previous two tracks. Finishing with Carved Away, there’s a subtle nod to the Pixies’ Gough Away, as Gloop unleash a volley of noise that sparks the senses. A band simply firing on all cylinders.

New music is never far away in the world of Gloop. It’s a band that needs to keep moving forward in a bid to shake off the anxiety. It’s this urgency that makes Gloop the band they are. A band fuelled by tension, and as it says on the tin, their latest release is another strong statement that will delight those already familiar with Gloop as well as those new to the band.

Gloop tour dates: