Just in time for chilly summer parties under bright overcast skies, gloomy june is back with their brand of foggy emo pop. Their debut self-titled LP, following a 2022 EP and string of singles, is vividly written and crisply produced, with drag-you-to-the-dancefloor rhythms and anthemic vocals that compel you to sing along.
The album’s first single “Picking Scabs” shimmers with imagery of seances and ouija boards, superstitious tools for prying into loss. The propulsive choruses ultimately explode on a hook about how we refuse to let wounds heal by scratching at them. But the anxious ruminations that continue across the record could also be seen as a kind of frustrated optimism: What is a seance, if not hopeful?
Hope is rewarded in the track “Making Plans,” a tender exploration of intimacy and feeling truly comfortable with another person. Here, the thornier topics from previous tracks can be expressed at the kitchen table, safe in a friendship where being seen doesn’t feel terrifying.
With their latest release, gloomy june makes a case for optimism, and dancing vulnerably with your friends at the punk club. Catch them at El Rio’s Queer Emo Night on Saturday, June 21 with Arcade 9 and Fistfight with Traffic.
