Experience has proven that you can never make assumptions when it comes to Coilguns. Just as the dust settles on their widely acclaimed 2024 album ‘Odd Love’, the Swiss four-piece has thrown a curveball that savages the senses: a two-track spin-off EP titled ‘Lost Love’, also released via their own imprint Hummus Records (Knut, H E X, Impure Wilhelmina, Unfold, etc.).
Always on the verge of sharing new music in every format possible, the La Chaux-de-Fonds quartet released this companion piece to showcase a darker, unvarnished side of their creative process.
These tracks are the ghosts of the ‘Odd Love’ recording sessions, originally set aside for being too violent and bleak to inhabit the same space as the more « radio-friendly » full-length. While the parent album was polished by Grammy-nominated engineers to ensure a sense of optimism, ‘Lost Love’ was handed over to American producer Scott Evans (Kowloon Walled City, Thrice). Evans’ « sad dude core » expertise proved the perfect fit for these angst-drenched songs, with final mastering by Magnus Lindberg (Cult Of Luna) ensuring every low-tuned note carries maximum weight.
A Dual Descent into Isolation
If ‘Odd Love’ was the day, ‘Lost Love’ is the grueling, sleepless night that follows. The EP functions as a single, suffocating movement: « Nightshifter » acts as a hypnotic, post-hardcore prowl that depicts the hollow pain of returning alone to an empty flat after the adrenaline of a tour has evaporated, winding around the senses with a sense of « controlled spitefulness ».
We initially thought our music was forever bound to be hopeless, chaotic and sad. However, after finishing the Odd Love recording sessions, it became clear that we had evolved, creating music that was much more energetic, positive and combative. Whether this happened consciously or not is hard to tell.. But listening to the whole recorded material, it felt clear that those two songs were waytoo negative and dark to fit with the rest.
They reminded us of an old version of Coilguns, like when you look at old photos of yourself and wonder how you could have bared such a weird haircut. Nevertheless, we loved them for what they are and decided to put them aside for a while. Looking at how the world has changed since then, it seems we made a good move. They feel much more seasonal at the moment.” — Louis Jucker
This transitions into the noise-rock tempest of « Homeworking Patriarch » a track that recalls the band’s harsher Commuters era. It serves as a doom-loaded incitement, questioning the sanity of domestic life during lockdown and exploring family tensions reaching a boiling point within a patriarchal society. Together, these two lost poems showcase Coilguns at their saddest, lacking any hint of optimism in favor of raw, prophylactic catharsis.
