Noah Gundersen - White Noise (2017) [Official Digital Download]

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Noah Gundersen - White Noise (2017) [Official Digital Download]

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Noah Gundersen - White Noise (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/44,1 kHz | Time - 67:18 minutes | 725 MB
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Artwork: Front cover

The album announces its intent by opening with ominous electronic distortion followed by rugged drums and electric guitar (in sharp contrast to the a cappella harmony vocals that opened his debut). "After All (Everything All the Time)" eventually climaxes with a wash of droning synths, guitars, and strings worthy of classic the Verve or Coldplay. Subsequent tracks continue in kind, albeit contrasting with quieter passages, on tracks about "Cocaine Sex & Alcohol," "Fear & Loathing" (which features Greg Leisz on pedal steel), and porn stars ("Bad Actors"). He finally brings it all down and keeps it down on the penultimate "Dry Year," an acoustic guitar lament ("Some days the world feels like a building on fire but everyone's ignoring the smoke"). Some of the bolder textures here were introduced on 2015's Carry the Ghost, but they reach new levels and dominate White Noise to the point that it's a relief when "Dry Year" and "Sent the Rain (To Everyone)" close the album with half-whispered sentiment. The final track does rebuild, temporarily, as the figurative rain arrives, before closing with what seems like appropriate fatigue. While Gundersen may have succeeded at exactly what he set out to do with White Noise, those spare moments are his wheelhouse, and the rest may come at the expense of songs that compel repeat plays.