One of the (many) reasons I still love rock music is that it gives voice to the desperate. When push comes to shove, Mass Gothic is the sound of one man facing his demons and getting his shit together.
For nearly ten years Heroux, a Massachusetts-bred, New York-based singer/songwriter, was the band leader of Hooray For Earth but after becoming creatively frustrated and clinically depressed, Mass Gothic is his attempt to start over with only himself to please.
Beyond that, there is no big master plan: “It didn’t matter where any of the sounds came from. I just cared that it sounded big and heavy", he says.
Written and recorded at home over four months during the winter of 2014-2015, this is guitar-driven pop which is as focused on groovy melodies as on grungey attitude.
The opener, Mind Is Probably begins slowly and reflectively before bursting into life for the final minute. Most songs are like this - a mix of contemplation with catharsis. Nice Night is another prime example.
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Want To, Bad is the standout for me, big on drama with a marching drum rhythm and falsetto voice of a man needy and greedy for love. This sense of vulnerability is also a feature of Every Night You've Got To Save Me which features a neat doo-wop chorus.
The ten track album closes with controlled cacophony of Soul. and shades of Lennon's Gimme Some Truth, before bowing out with Subway Phone a modest synth-pop ditty with the calming refrain "it's easier today".
When asked how people should listen to this album Heroux replied: "very loud and maybe drunk, with huge, glorious speakers" but I can also vouch for the fact that it also sounds pretty damn fine on bog standard speakers while stone cold sober
Mass Gothic's website
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