If you stopped paying attention to Gomez after they won the Mercury Music Prize, you're missing out. Fortunately, now's a good time to jump back onboard. How We Operate, out tomorrow, is a perfectly crafted synthesis of the band's influences: Britfolk balladry, harp-heavy blues, and lilting alt-country. We were hooked from opening "Notice," which rides a sweet acoustic riff and swiftly switches gears from lush to cold with "Creep"y mechanical stops in the verses. "Chasing Ghosts With Alcohol" is half harrowing confessional, half raging rocker. "Charley Patton Songs" is a slow-burning singalong that recoils with a tense syncopated break after each chorus. And funky "Hamoa Beach" may just be our favorite track. On the whole, Operate is quieter, dreamier Gomez than we expected. But vocalist Tom Gray can pull off a weepy ballad as deftly as bandmate Ben maneuvers his patented growl. We can't wait to see this stuff live.
AND not only do we love Gomez, we love limited edition Be@rbricks 'cause they're like Beanie Babies for twenty and thirty-something eBayers with too much money...
So we're thriled to announce our second band Be@rbrick contest. Freshness and Stereogum are each giving away a 400% (four times more awesome than usual) Be@rbrick Toy designed and autographed by Gomez. Randomly selected grand prize winner also receives a limited-edition 7" of "How We Operate." (Contest is open to US residents only; sorry Canada.)
Grrr.
ENTER HERE by 6/1/06. Contest is over
Preview to the whole new Gomez album at AOL Music and download at iTunes starting tomorrow.
