Rising grunge-gaze heroes Goon have been bringing the scuzz back to LA guitar music for a good year now, and the people are here for it. Since releasing it debut EP The Dusk of Punk via Noisey last September, the band and its sludgy, sprawling sound has been a relentless presence on stage and playlists alike. Today, we’re pleased to announce Goon’s second EP, Happy Omen, due out October 30.
The EP is a series of demos originally destined for a full-length, and instead stretched out and reprocessed through experimental recording sessions. The collection, a chunk of which was written in the wake of a broken relationship, continues many of the themes that drew us into the band’s debut: love, God, doubt, and childhood. “What I like most about this collection of songs is the shared melancholy, longing, introspective vibe,” frontman Kenny Becker tells Noisey.
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The EP’s first single “Chaka,” premiering on Noisey below, is most definitely of that vibe. The tune is a fine work of chugging lackadaisical pop that midway through gives way to a lifted, bled-out jam. Here’s what Becker had to say about it:
“Chaka” is one of the oldest songs I’ve written. I recorded a bedroom version of it in December 2011 when I got a Tube Screamer for Christmas. That original demo was the first thing I made using that pedal. As the case usually is with demos, we all became pretty attached to it, especially the last half where everything gets all spacey and weird. When we tried to make an “album worthy” version of it, we couldn’t get that last half to sound quite as magical as the original. So we decided to just use the original ending, pressed up against the newly recorded first half. Doing this ended up giving the track, to me, this kinda crazy element of time travel, which is easily my favorite thing about it.
Listen to the premiere of Goon’s “Chaka” below, and check out the band’s free residency all month long at the Echo in LA, including a record release show October 30 with Alyeska, Gypsum, and HOTT MT (costumes encouraged).
Andrea Domanick is Noise’s West Coast Editor. Follow her on Twitter.
