No Kill – Gold Chorus

The opening organ notes of “Always” from No Kill’s Gold Chorus prepare you for a somewhat reverential and awe-some 37 minutes.

Brooklyn’s Jamie Cogar is No Kill, and her debut record is quite a staggering feat – lush, colorful grunge-infused noise rock, walls of sound and interlaced fuzz and effects creating gorgeous sonic tapestries. Her voice is versatile enough to be scathing at times, smart and syrupy at others.

“Tremolo” is cinematic and sweeping, with excellent percussion and the right amount of feedback to add dimension without using noise for noise’s sake. “Hallelujah” cements the album’s timelessness among the likes of the Breeders and Brian Jonestown. The album’s title track introduces a second set of vocals and is a driving, reverberant power pop anthem, certainly a highlight among many.

Cogar induces a nostalgia for the sounds of not-so-distant history, of the feeling of hearing Beach House for the first time. She taught herself to play guitar to 90s grunge, and that influence is evident, as is more avant-garde shoegaze and dream pop like Galaxie 500. With closing track “A Place,” she oozes confidence and vulnerability simultaneously, collapsing the notion that one must exist without the other.

A most promising debut from No Kill! Out now on Substitute Scene and Fear of Missing out Records.

Order it on Bandcamp.