Photo by Lizzy McEleney

Artist: Gollylagging, the four-piece of vocalists and guitarists Jake Regulbuto and Jules Skiffington, bassist Joey Lorant, and drummer Andrew Garas

Location: Boston, MA

Buzz: The origin story behind the band name Gollylagging isn’t too deep. In a recent interview with Tape Wounds, guitarist and co-vocalist Jake Regulbuto divulges that he had meant to suggest the word “lollygagging”, but in a twist of the tongue, he got a couple of the consonants mixed up. Their play on a waste of time stuck, but if there’s anything to be said about the Boston indie rockers on the heels of the release of their debut album five years in the making, it’s that they’re big on taking in the moment, even if it pains you.

The theory about winning life’s races at a slow and steady rate definitely applies to the band here on Real Life. Following a handful of EPs and singles while building a cult following from the grassroots up in Boston’s perpetually slept-on underground scene, their first full-length effort puts all of the pieces they’ve collected in their still-young timelines together in one sitting. Each of its members plays an important part of the puzzle in getting those adulting experiences across. Along the way, there’s stories shared about friendships and friendships ending, burnout, society anxiety, and other generational perils through a cobbling of guitar rock where the feel of each song sways in every which direction Regulbuto and Jules Skiffington’s emotions do.

This is to say that Real Life could very well pass Gollylagging off as your new favorite emo band as much as it could count them as members of the shoegaze, alt-country, or trad indie rock scene. There’s grungy power-pop (“Bronco”, “Red Fish”) and heavier rumbles incoming (“Comet”, “Kill Devil Hill”), some of the year’s most heart-affecting pedal steel-and-violin rustling going on through their existential wandering (the album’s title track,) pockets of lo-fi (“Scarecrow”, “Heart of Ice”, ) and one hell of a cathartic, chord-smashing closer (“Terminator”.) They do it all so well that you’d think they’ve lived several lifetimes over to get to this point. Instead, they’re just beginning to write their story, with one of the year’s best DIY rock debut.

Sound: A burnt CD of some of the best indie rock obscurities made by an old friend you haven’t seen in ages, where every track’s deeper meaning becomes more obvious in hindsight.

Highlights: “Kill Devil Hill”, “Real Life”, and “Terminator” from their newly-released debut album, Real Life

Gollylagging’s Real Life is available now on Disposable America.