This is my second entry on a track from Julian Lynch’s upcoming Lines LP, and perhaps this is telling of the album’s quality. Like “Cairos kelleyi I” before it, “Gloves” combines a mesmerizing swarm of acoustic instruments with darkly Baroque flares. On “Gloves,” Lynch’s layered guitars are supported by a dazzling pack of strings and woodwinds, playing all sharp and sinewy and rife with pre-modern tension. The strings anchor the spiking progression of the verses to a powerful repetition, and sound like they could have come right from one of Grieg’s chamber pieces; the punch of an incredibly hooky bassline anchors Lynch’s flighty vocals to the track’s escalating momentum. Though quite brief, “Gloves” is an immensely powerful climb through a dark and dense wilderness.
If songs like “Gloves” and “Cairos kelleyi I” are any indication, Lines will not be an album to miss when it comes out on March 26th.