GIFT treasures every moment like a present. The Brooklyn-based quintet’s dedication to savoring every second emerges on their new track, “Gumball Garden.” The song is the first single from their forthcoming debut album, Momentary Presence, out Oct. 14 via Dedstrange, a new label co-founded by Oliver Ackermann of A Place to Bury Strangers and Death by Audio.
The swirling shoegaze of “Gumball Garden,” baked up by bandleader TJ Freda, is complemented by the darker dream-pop and krautrock influences he throws into the mix. Freda’s home-engineering gives the song a candied quality, as the sugarcoated synthesizers and confectionery riffs melt together. Managing to come across as heavy-handed, yet so sweet it could give you a toothache, the song drips honey. Freda’s dissociative lyrics are the cherry on top of their psych-rock sundae, as he muses, “I walk in circles every day / Waiting for this dream to fade away.”
“I wrote this song way before most people knew what the word pandemic meant,” Freda says of the song. “I had a dream in late 2019 where I woke up one day and there was nobody on earth. I was walking around looking for any forms of life to no avail. It was sad but also strangely peaceful. When the pandemic happened, this song took on a whole new meaning. We did wake up one day and the streets were empty. Everyone had gone away. This song is about finding peace in solitude.”
Check out the video for “Gumball Garden” (dir. James Thomson) below, along with the Momentary Presence tracklist and art.
Momentary Presence Tracklist:
01. When You Feel It Come Around
02. Gumball Garden
03. Share The Present
04. Lost For You
05. Pez
06. Stuck In A Dream
07. Dune
08. Feather
09. Pinkhouse Secret Rave
10. Here And Now (Time Floats By)
Momentary Presence Art:
