I’ve been wanting to write about Zorch for months now. I saw these guys at the Beauty Bar during SXSW and it was one of the most amazing shows I’ve been to. The duo was having so much fun onstage that they didn’t need all of the lights and toys to get the audience involved, but they had those too, and managed to bring our rapidly tiring bodies to a whole other level. The problem was that they didn’t have any new music out. In fact, they hadn’t released anything since August 2009, and while we definitely have reached back to 2010 to review new bands we hear about, 2009 just seemed too long ago. So I waited. And waited. And finally, we were all rewarded with a new two-sided single from Zorch.
Two songs may not seem like a lot after a two-year recording hiatus, but these two songs clock in at over 16 minutes (plus, the digital download includes two additional edits that push the total to upwards of 25 minutes). And these two songs earn their epicness. “Cosmic Gloss,” the main single, is the most manic slow jam you’ll ever hear. The phrase “Here in my heart” anchors the song but is also patched together from what sounds like three different vocal samples. Here, the band goes for a more tender side, but relinquishes none of the creative electronic flourishes that made 2009’s Demo such a compelling listen. Their friendship and collaboration with Fresh Millions, though, (check out “Control Freak” from FM, which has Shmu from Zorch on it) seems to have led to more vocal manipulation than we saw on the largely instrumental Demo. It’s always exciting to see bands grow, and when they’re as good as Zorch it’s like awesome icing on a badass cake.
“Cosmic Gloss” is backed with “E.M.F.,” which maintains the same manic/mellow dichotomy as the former and also increases the role of the vocals as compared to Zorch’s earlier work. Taken together, these songs manage to engage you for the entirety of their 16+ minutes, and raise the expectations for future releases (the guys have alluded to quite the body of work awaiting public consumption). In the meantime, they have embarked on an extensive tour of the South and East Coast, which you can access here if you are not an Austin resident. (For example, I know we have readers in Boston and New York who might be interested in checking this band out.) You can buy the single either digitally or on cassette here, and we’ll let you know when Zorch is back in town rocking Austin.
-Carter