This one came out of nowhere… well, Minsk, Belarus originally and now Wroclaw (Poland). The EP dropped through my door with some interesting overseas postage on it and I popped it on not having the first clue what to expect. What I got was… interesting.
A duet, Gray Dog describe themselves as “southern / occult / raw blues rock” and, yeah, I can go with that. The “occult” bit seems a stretch despite one track being called “VooDoo”, though. I’d replace it with “acoustic” as all five tracks feature just vocals, on four of them anyway, an acoustic guitar and the most basic of percussion.
This is the kind of music that would work well as the opening theme to a gritty drama. Opener “The Bridge” had me thinking that was an instrumental release, though this was laid to rest with the next track. “Why Did You Fuck Me And Leave?” is one of those songs that’s both light-hearted and bouncy, yet dark and depressing. I’m assuming this is autobiographical, because it sounds like the singer really has some pent-up venom. The country-tinged twangs of “VooDoo” are accompanied by a steady pounding bass drum and great vocals which hit both the clean and shouty ends of the scale. An absolute belter of a track.
“The Pray of Hangover” isn’t exactly a drinking song, more an “I really need to stop” ballad. Remember, the first step is recognising that you have a problem… Closer “The Deal” is about as heavy an acoustic track as I’ve ever heard. The vocals really get down and dirty on this one, lower than an overweight snake’s belly.
It’s a shame that there are only five songs on here. I could definitely listen to more. Production is top-notch, too. Everything’s crystal clear and sounds like the band are playing in the room with you. The guitar and vocals are front and centre with the drums nicely in the background keeping the beat when they’re required and no more.
The Deal came as a pleasant surprise to me. It’s available for a pittance on Bandcamp (stream or CD) and you can have a listen below.
