Description
A vinyl pressing of Guiding Light’s 2024 demo, which was my favorite tape of 2024, and probably could be my favorite tape of any year ever. Guiding Light are a punk band with an unrivaled ability to grab your attention. Part of this is about the hooks, the immediately indelible melodies of their songs, but part of this is about force too. The drums and vocals are locked together in punch and tumble, a dramatic, breathless swing. I also like the way the guitar and bass will both focus on a note for so long, a jabbing kind of sewing machine approach that contributes to the time-melting experience of these songs. Guiding Light remind me of the Minutemen I think, but also of Purple Mountains? There’s a sense of having reached an extreme, like in the bearing of the band members, but the music itself isn’t extreme or unfriendly or even alien. This is probably how I feel, as a human being, 95% of the time and yet I find it so hard to express! Grateful to Guiding Light for communicating this feeling so clearly. I hope I get to see them play live someday!
Released by Tall Texan in an edition of 100 copies.
