Premiere: Toward Space Expand Their Raw Garage Sound On New Self-Titled Album
Garage rock is built on visceral appeal, sounds and rhythms that stir your body long before the words begin to resonate in your mind. There’s rugged power to this style with music that sounds just as great on a cheap recording set-up as it does in a professional studio, each offering a different angle at the raw energy these songs and performances carry. Knowing that though is the trick to making memorable garage music across different recordings while feeling fresh yet still connected. This is where we find Toward Space on their new self-titled album. Commanding as ever in their power trio set-up, this music subtly polishes their brash sound in order to amplify the resonance and precision of each song. The result is a smashing garage rock collection that dazzles as much as it incites across fourteen tracks. Out officially on Saturday, April 15th, it’s an album we at The Auricular are excited to premiere today with an exclusive stream.
Toward Space’s last album title, Gently With A Chainsaw, seemed to define their sound and appeal. Potent yet delicate. Piercing yet loveable. As great as that record is though, the band truly embodies this dual-sided spirit on the new record, with fun melodies that are wrapped in barbed riffs and punchy rhythms. The band has always carried a pop aspect to their music, though it’s been roughed up by the loose recordings and fuzzy songwriting. Here, that aspect is punched up fully while the music underneath is reinforced, all of which helps sharpen the vocal and lyrical snark on display in each song.
This approach is perfectly encapsulated in the album’s stand-out track, “Give It Up,” which features a driving riff and irresistible melody. It’s a song Toward Space was always capable of writing, but sounds so much better coming out now as they flesh out their sound to enhance its inherent appeal. It’s the song most likely to get stuck in your ear as the album comes to a close, but it’s far from the only notable track here. Album opener “Miles To Go” wastes no time in grabbing your attention with pounding drums, sawing guitars, and surly vocals that exude the sense of primal urgency that helped establish the canon of garage and punk. But the band also offers more than just that breakneck sound too. “Memphis” takes all of this and infuses it with a Southern blues charm that sounds just as comfortable in a smokey dive bar as it does in a sweaty basement performance space.
The musicianship from Toward Space is as great as you can get from this sound, with tight and energetic performances that utilize the band’s fantastic chemistry to enhance the skill level. The guitar work here is scorching whether it’s offering fuzzy riffs or bristly solos. The rhythm section is absolutely relentless as it drives the high-octane sound across the whole record, sometimes becoming as memorable as the crafty hooks the band packs into each verse and chorus. Again, all of this has been hallmarks of Toward Space’s sound in the past, but this new album is far more refined with extra attention paid to the cohesion of each part and the focus of the overall record.
Overall, this is an album that grabs you by the collar with the first guitar hiss from “Miles To Go” and doesn’t let go until the last distorted note fades out on “Female Trouble.” It’s exhilarating in every way you want high-octane rock music to be with catchy riffs, irreverent spirit, and raw intensity. This music not only captures the essence of garage rock but also shows how that sound knows no bounds and can still grow and adapt, with sharp tweaks here and there to let the punch hit as cleanly as possible. If you haven’t started listening by now, it’s time to turn up your speakers as loud as they go and unwind with some unbridled rock ferocity from a band that continues to find ways to delight and impress while sticking to their gutsy roots.
Toward Space comes out Saturday, April 15th on all streaming platforms and the band is celebrating with a free album release show the same day at Hardywood. The band will be joined by Broke Body and Sifter with doors opening at 6:30 PM and the show starting at 7 PM. You can check out the show flyer below.
