You wouldn’t expect a band with that name to make this kind of expansive, hook-savvy music, but here we are. Mass Gothic’s debut goes fervently and happily to church, particularly on the record’s geographical and sonic centerpiece, the bombastic “Every Night You’ve Got To Save Me,” which sounds like a full-choir Ronettes riff blown up by way of Scissor Sisters.
The rest of the album pulls from the same bag of tricks—pop forms amped up big, loud and showy—but the lyrics tend toward bedroom-band introspective, and are even minimalist in places. The result is a record that sounds like a quirky combination of awkward indie-rock geekery and American pop overconfidence. That curious tension is the order of the day throughout Mass Gothic, and though it won’t be every listener’s groove, fans of baroque pop’s lush overreach will find a lot to enjoy.
—Eric Waggoner
