Photo by Brian Karlsson

Alex G is sitting pretty over at RCA Records. Hotline TNT is on fire over at Third Man Records. Spirit of the Beehive are buzzing around Saddle Creek. It seems as though all of the — and I can’t stress this enough — loosely-stated experimental post-shoegaze acts from the Northeast corridor who turned the most unconventional of recent indie rock sonic trends into viral status have all comfortably leveled up their label homes these last few years. Well, the other shoe has dropped: Philly underground stalwarts and Julia’s War flagship act They Are Gutting a Body of Water are now inked with ATO in partnership with the aforementioned Julia’s War and Smoking Room for the release of whatever comes next, starting with our first taste, “AMERICAN FOOD”.

This one’s an interesting preview of that, if it in fact is a preview of the Doug Dulgarian-led band’s future, seeing as it’s as simplified in its sound as can be by TAGaBoW standards, looping spoken word and warped, errant shouts, Dulgarian’s modulated voice, and record scratch effects over a linear arpeggio and drum beat down the same funnel before a jet stream sucks it up, leaving only birds to tweet in the open air. “Tell me there’s a better one / And I’ll go get my gun,” goes its chorus. That certainly sounds terrifyingly ominous, even if the listen has an uncanny way of serving up a welcome distraction of outside noise…

Directed by: Alan Rickman

They Are Gutting a Body of Water’s “AMERICAN FOOD” single is available now on ATO Records / Julia’s War / Smoking Room.