MP3 At 3PM: The Gentle Guest

Beware: Eau Claire, Wisc.’s Gentle Guest is anything but. The band is coming to turn your local concert hall into a gutbucket speakeasy. Singer/songwriter Eric Rykal fronts the rough-and-tumble dectet, which has torn up the Midwest for the past four years. The Gentle Giant sounds like a good ol’ fashioned hoedown—after someone spiked the town well with acid. The group is releasing its second album, Cast Off Your Human Form (Amble Down), next month and will hopefully hit the road again in support. “Judgment” is the first single from the new LP, and it’s a fine distillation of the Gentle Guest’s wild-man vibe. “We’re going to turn this fucking world on its end tonight/Look at me, ma, I‘ve finally seen the light,” sings Rykal, while the band thrashes like a bar fight between the Replacements and Man Man.

“Judgment” (download):
https://magnetmagazine.com/audio/Judgment.mp3