Search - Two Gallants :: The Bloom and the Blight

Two Gallants have signed to ATO Records and will release their fourth LP The Bloom and the Blight on September 4th, 2012. The album is their first since 2007's self-titled release and comes after a three-year hiatus. Friends since they were five, Adam Stephens and Tyson Vogel grew up playing music together, from early teen-age house parties in their hometown of San Francisco, to multiple world tours.

The Bloom and the Blight is the work of a band that has matured and redefined itself, and the album is imbued with a palpable sense of personal catharsis. It moves away from Two Gallants' more folk and blues-based past, representing the duo's ferocious live show and their past steeped in punk and grunge. The songs have a dark side and a dynamic sonic heft, yet a sense of salvation and resolve courses throughout: an urgent, emotional poignancy stemming in part from Stephens' recovery from a serious van accident in 2010.

Opening tracks "Halcyon Days" and "Song of Songs" illustrate the type of build to explosion that's omnipresent throughout the album, and the prowling "My Love Won't Wait" with a menacing chorus underscored by a pounding backbeat is an epic, booming anthem. The gentler "Broken Eyes" all voices, guitar, harmonica, and tambourine has already become a fan favorite with its rousing, harmony-filled final verses, while the cinematic "Ride Away" soars on Adam Stephens' raspy howl and Tyson Vogel's relentless drumming.