A few weeks ago, shoegaze underdogs Medicine announced a new album, Home Everywhere, their second release since the band’s reunion last year. In August 2013, the L.A. quartet ended over 18 years of silence with the great To the Happy Few; barely a year later, they strike again, putting Kevin Shields’ geologically slow work rate to shame. Still featuring the (reunited) original line-up, Medicine have now shared the forthcoming LP’s second single, “Move Along - Down the Road,” which picks up where To the Happy Few’s “Long as the Sun” left off, but with even clearer industrial underpinnings — Brad Laner, the group’s leader, has proclaimed Throbbing Gristle and Cocteau Twins as main influences with a good reason.
Not long ago, the band shared Home Everywhere’s first single, “Turning”. While their second cut seems to pursue Medicine’s noisier side, with abrasive guitars, a blunt rhythmic base, and heavily processed vocals, “Turning” stands as a swirly sibling to the warped bubblegum pop of “It’s Not Enough”, their 2013 album’s lead single. With a quasi-DFA beat, the track actually recalls the rock dalliances of late-90s electronic artists like The Chemical Brothers or Death in Vegas.
Medicine’s career reactivation could not come at a better time, with their music undergoing a long-due reappraisal. Saddled early on with reductionist MBV comparisons, which overlooked the psychedelic and noise pop tangents of Medicine’s work, they are now being rehabilitated thanks to a series of reissues and the love of younger fans like M83’s Anthony Gonzalez. The same applies to the band’s leader, Brad Laner, who is finally being recognized as a visionary noise sculptor, alt-guitar journeyman, and psychedelic pop purveyor, three facets which sublimely merge in Medicine’s tracks.
Home Everywhere is out on October 28, via Captured Tracks.
Home Everywhere tracklisting:
01. The Reclaimed Girl
02. Turning
03. Move Along - Down the Road
04. Don’t Be Slow
05. Cold Life
06. They Will Not Die
07. It’s All About You
08. The People
09. Home Everywhere
• Medicine: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Medicine-Band/148976065123004
• Captured Tracks: http://capturedtracks.com
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