GGGOLDDD - PTSD

Ok, that was weird. First I got a notification that the package was about to arrive, but then it didn't come for days and the tracking service told me that my postal code was wrong. Maybe the sender had messed up the number? When I finally got it, the address was alright though, but the tracking said it had been misdirected - and a sticker on it claimed otherwise, that I had commanded it to be stored for several days... No, I didn't?

Of course I could have easily avoided all that confusion if I had just bought the new Gggolddd EP at the merch table in Hamburg the other day - but when I ordered it I simply didn't know that I would be attending that show as support of Cult of Luna yet.

Fittingly I also displaced that lovely little thank you note by Milena Eva only a minute before I took the pictures below and for the life of me just can't unearth it, even though there are only so few places it could possibly be. Can't get my stupid head around it. Really weird.

Well, thank you for letting me get that off my chest! But what about the music?

GGGOLDDD - PTSD (fade red to blue vinyl 12") (2023)

The about 19 minutes of this release directly continue where "This Shame Should Not Be Mine" ended, both musically and conceptually, as they continue the half-electronic direction of the album - but with the relatively minimal current touring line-up of four members - and address the post-traumatic stress caused by the singer's experiences of aussault, which were the subject of album.

Five songs, sharp, simple and clear, emotional and analytical, close and distanced. Catchy, but also moving beneath the sonic surface. Three compositions are completely new, while "He Is Not" and "Old Habits" are new arrangements of songs from "Why Aren't You Laughing" and "No Image".

If the Post Post Everything sound of the synth/guitar/electro-drum-heavy music alone still has you on the verge of considering the purchase, the actual physical copy is a good argument in its favor.
The vinyl comes in different colour variations, which as far as I can judge are all looking great, but especially the cutout cover is quite impressive. A clear case of design fitting content. Beautiful.