Music Review: Male Gaze, Gale Maze

By Less Lee Moore

I’d never heard Blasted Canyons, Mayyors, or The Mall, so references to these San Francisco bands failed to pique my interest when a link to Male Gaze’s “Cliffs Of Madness” single made its way into my inbox last year. What I did like about the song was that it reminded me a bit of Red Lorry Yellow Lorry (in its nervy, post-punkishness) and a bit of Modern English (in the way Male Gaze singer Matt Jones sounds like Robbie Grey). It’s a real thunderstorm of a track with vocal and guitar melodies that present themselves at just the right moments.

Now Male Gaze has an entire album out from Castle Face, the cheekily titled Gale Maze. All the songs have great jagged jangles of guitar riffs and terrific vocals. The band has nailed the mid-’80s post-punk sound of bands like Easterhouse or the aforementioned Lorries, but they’re also a bit of a slippery fish. Songs will present a strong groove and then fall apart and regroup, and Jones’s heavily reverbed vocals serve as their own harmonies and exaggerate the feeling of restlessness throughout the album.

While the reverb sounds great sonically, Jones clearly doesn’t need the help and it makes the lyrics somewhat difficult to discern. A lot of bands try for that post-punk sound but end up sounding lightweight when compared to the real thing. If their lyrics turn out to be as enticing as the music, Male Gaze could blow away the wanna-bes.

Gale Maze sounds great with the speakers turned up and a set of good headphones. There’s a lot going on here, from the Buzzcocks vibe of opening track “Smog Dawn” to the meaty “Mr. Wrong.” The burly opening to “Early Surgeon” comes on strong, while the ending of “Gale Maze” is almost whimsical.

From the stellar production values and obvious talent found on the album, it’s kind of mystifying that we haven’t heard more about Male Gaze. Hopefully that will change soon. They also seem like the kind of band who would slaughter an audience, in the good way, of course, so let’s hope they embark on a full tour soon.

Gale Maze was released by Castle Face on March 23.

Tour Dates:
5/2 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall w/ Pow!
5/23 – Oakland, CA @ Leo’s w/ Crocodiles