PG.LOST - Oscillate

This is PG.LOST's Oscillate- the band's latest LP packed to the gills with pure drama and catharsis. Their fifth overall and first effort since 2016's much lauded Versus, Oscillate leans on an instrumental approach and while their keen understanding of tension/release may warrant comparison to the likes of MONO, Explosions in the Sky and Godspeed You! Black Emperor, PG.LOST is unafraid to move into exciting new directions. With influences that range from the emotional heft of Big Thief to the inventive spirit of krautrock to the brutality of Neurosis to the dark experimentalism of COIL, these heavier elements intertwine and open up into wide-eyed expansiveness of Fennesz or Tim Hecker, revealing a beauty shimmering underneath and a range of depth rarely found in today's over-compressed and spit-shined version of "modern music." Kicking off with a blossoming dark ambient passage on the title track, an ascendant guitar/synth part builds tension until final release is achieved with a massive chorus, waves of eye-opening guitars and elephantine tribal drums. It's emblematic of the album as a whole- massive in scope and even larger in sound, Oscillate is the true definition of its title with incredibly tense swells to the point of collapse leading to a slow but pensive disintegration. And again. And again. Oscillate is not just instrumental music, it's cinematic- it's high drama, executed in IMAX with a pristine soundtrack blasting at 120db. Due in November via Pelagic Records, the LP was recorded by the band in their own studio, and mixed/mastered by Magnus Lindberg from Cult of Luna. Sovereign in execution and mammoth in scope, Oscillate is ten tracks of pure dramatic bombast and a massive step forward for the decades-old band. The four years away have been worth it. FOR FANS OF: MONO, Explosions In The Sky, Mogwai, Cult of Luna, EF, Caspian, Russian Circles ARTIST INFO: Founded in 2004 in Norrköping, Sweden, PG.LOST is Mattias Bhatt, Martin Hjertstedt (ex- Ghost), Gustav Almberg (The Great Discord) and Kristian Karlsson (Cult of Luna). Formed in pursuit of a singular love of post-rock, ambient and shoegaze with a bent towards post- metal, the band released their self-titled and the Yes, I Am EPs in 2006 and 2007. From there PG.LOST dropped their 2008 LP It's Not Me, It's You! quickly followed by 2009's In Never Out, Key, the Wang Wen split LP and Versus followed in 2012, 2013 and 2016 respectively. LINE UP: Mattias Bhatt: guitar, Martin Hjertstedt: drums. Gustav Almberg: guitar, Kristian Karlsson: bass