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Glacier's Wake

by MGR

/
1.
The Ride 03:25
There’s a ringin’ in my ears tonight The walls close in, and the room feels tight The newsman is on the radio He told me don’t look back, it’s time to go I take your hand, we head on out the door Stumble through the night, out into the roar The streets are cold and dark in this town We break away from here and burn it all down We kill the lights and now the road guides us All the dreams we had, have turned to smoke and dust They slip away, float beyond our sight I lay down the gas, we tear into the night And now, we stand upon the peak In this dark we know, the ways of the free The streets are cold, dark and unwound We break away from here and burn it all down
2.
Radiant 04:24
Tonight we dance upon this pin I hold you close and I grin 
Shadows long and dark Guide us from the fray Moonlight, shows our sins We are kept at bay 
Our time it comes and goes And we fade from view Pressed down upon my neck
It's nothing new 
This night will fall before All has been confessed It’s faded light Will show there is nothing left 
We’re awake and we find In this light, we are divine 
Shadows long and weak Reach into the sand Show a course for which we seek The time is now at hand 
Our road, it heaves and flows
The ground, falls away The wheels of time roll out To a place that we cannot stay This day will fall before All has been confessed It’s faded light Will show there is nothing left
3.
Hey I’ve been gone so long I feel your touch And know I belong Well I I hold myself low On the edge of the world I'm shown we are the crow Hey Now I hold you near We dance and sing on our fire And move without fear Darlin’ we bring it in slow We know that we don't have to go I found my way to you We raise the night high We throw ourselves in and I know We have arrived Hold me now and you'll see Look on me and I glow From the stars in your eyes
4.
Felled 05:00
We fall from this dark day Sky burns And shows the way We bask in its light And rise from the fight I feel myself slip away In this dream I fade to gray Now you turn to me And I hold you high When you When you come on out with me I know We'll move on And ride till we're free These flames Will hold us through the night And you will aways burn Oh so bright I hear the dawn it's callin' Its shadow pulls us through We move into the skyline And I find my way to you When I walk upon this rift Oh I see As I ascend, I will be free I'm between what I reap And all I sow I have slipped, out past all I know
5.
Burn Clean 04:02
The shadows they pull us down And tonight we move without sound You find a new skin To move through all I know I come alive with you And bask in your glow Now the heavens rain down on you And your fire burns so true I throw off these ashes To move through all I know I rise from this void And bask in your glow We scour the sands And drink the oceans dry The mountains they turn to dust We watch them float through the sky I stand atop the dawn My broken arms arise Below the earth cracks and heaves I'm splashed across the sky
6.
Slip 05:04
As night fell, We drove out into the shadows. When moon reached its crest, I stood before you. Awake for the first time in years The earth heaved below and the sky bellowed above. We held each other, and dove into it We pulled down mountains and drank the sea Burned with the fire and walked upon the wind Awake for the first time in years You and I found, That the way home tore us apart We held each other, and said goodbye We rose from our ashes and floated upon the clouds There, we cast out all we held dear, and became one Alive for the first time in years The sky opened and pulled us in We held each other, and faded into the night
7.
I am the fire that feeds the sun I am the love that makes us one I am the water that flows without form I am the mist that guides the storm I am the fortunes for which you seek I am the bliss that makes us weak I have only to hold out my hand To form you from the sand I am the glow that cradles the moon I am the love that makes us swoon I am the calm before the storm I’ve been here, since before you were born I am the riot in our heart I am the shadows that tear us apart I have only to hold out my hand To scour all of the land I’ve always known We‘ve always known, how this would unfold Together we sit and wait for the moment to come
8.
Come With Us 03:48
When you come with us And shed your skin We’ll kill your Gods To look with within We all dance as one On the edge of this night We soar above This dark plateau We all watch it glow On the edge of the night And we come to you With tales so grand But what was gold Has turned to sand We all watch the dawn Crush the edge of the night
9.
Held 02:57
Call my name I move from the shadows To find you Take my hand We walk on this wind With open arms The diamonds in your eye Are all I ever Held dear We pull back our veil And step out Into the dawn
10.
Diana 03:34
All you touch becomes alive, and bold You always burn too bright, for all in this world We hold you up high and you slip, far below You pull back your veil and show, us your faded glow We hold you high And you drift away There’s no goodbye As you fade out to grey
11.
Away 03:02
Oh You’ve been away for so long And I I’m not feeling so strong Your gaze Has held me up so high And now You’ve slipped from my side You've gone so far away I can't feel, your touch Now you're just a dream And I've said too much Oh You've found your way And I I suppose that I'll stay Our love It fades with the dawn I'll hold You up while your gone You've gone so far away I can't feel, your touch Now you're just a dream And I've said too much

about

MGR—an acronym for Mustard Gas & Roses—is the ever-evolving project for guitarist/vocalist Mike Gallagher. Across a span of nearly two decades, MGR has served as a vehicle for Gallagher’s varied explorations—from textural ambient compositions (2005’s Nova Lux) to electronics-laden riff meditations (2006’s Impromptu) to dramatic film scores (2012’s 22nd of May). In the project’s early years, these solo ventures often served as tangents to Gallagher’s more prominent endeavor, playing guitar with post-metal titans ISIS. But in the years since the dissolution of ISIS, MGR has expanded from a solo recording project to a full-band live entity, beginning with the 2016 album Becoming. In the process of this evolution, MGR has gradually veered away from pensive instrumentals and towards artful bottom-heavy rock compositions. With MGR’s latest offering—the full-length studio album Glacier’s Wake—Gallagher has further developed the project’s sound by making prominent use of another instrument in his arsenal: his voice. The result is an album imbued with newfound depth and dimension as Gallagher’s baritone vocals and tales of modern anxieties hammer home the unrest and urgency already embedded in his inventive guitar playing.

Glacier’s Wake is a powerful and foreboding listening experience even without the additional context of MGR’s back catalog and Gallagher’s extensive musical history. The album opens with a serpentine bass line provided by Greg Burns (Red Sparowes, Marriages) and Gallagher’s foreboding full-throated Michael Gira-esque vocals. When “The Ride” finally explodes into full volume, it circumvents the bottom-heavy dirges of Becoming in favor of the sophisticated menace and tightly woven fervor of an elder statesmen of the dark arts. Think Nick Cave or David Eugene Edwards or Mark Lanegan with more amplified force. Glacier’s Wake continues operating on this principle—delivering its emotional weight in melody, tension, and ambience rather than riff worship and impossibly low-tuned guitars. Whether it takes shape in the dusty desert troubadour vibe of “Stars in Your Eyes,” the fever dream storytelling of “Slip,” or the droning lullaby closer “Away,” Gallagher’s rich timbre, authoritative delivery, and subtle but evocative lyrics demonstrate a long-dormant but incredibly resonant songwriting talent.

While Glacier’s Wake is a rousing and haunting journey as an isolated album, there’s a larger odyssey at play when absorbed as part of the arc of Gallagher’s multifaceted work. Beginning with his role as guitarist in Boston’s forward-thinking post-hardcore outfit Cast Iron Hike, Gallagher employed the visceral power of thick palm-muted high-gain riffage as the foundation to a melodic vocal framework, creating a multi-dimensional sound more in line with modern prog rock than the hardcore scene they were associated with. This inherent understanding of fusing raw power with musical refinement made Gallagher a shoo-in when ISIS needed a new guitarist ahead of recording their second EP, The Red Sea. That collaboration would continue through the remainder of ISIS’s tenure, with Gallagher exploring the more subdued and expansive attributes of his guitar style through a series of MGR releases in the ‘00s. Even after ISIS’s dissolution in 2010, MGR briefly continued its trajectory of pensive soundscapes with the 22nd of May soundtrack and a split 7” with Ides of Gemini, but the absence of the collaborative and performance aspects of working within a band format guided the project’s next evolutionary step.

Becoming marked MGR’s transition from an emphasis on ethereal ambience to commanding full-band instrumentals. The melodic bandwidth of earlier MGR releases was still in play, though it was now employed in the dynamic and muscular capacity we heard during Gallagher’s time in ISIS. An even more pronounced shift came with the 2020 EP We Are One, where listeners were greeted with the new component of Gallagher’s voice. Far from being a background texture or an obligatory addition to provide a stylistic branding, Gallagher’s vocals redefined the entire MGR sound. The EP’s closer, a cover of Spiritualized’s “Cop Shoot Cop,” was the strongest indication of where Gallagher was headed with his next full-length, deploying the voice as the central musical element and weaving a lush tapestry of sound beneath it.

In a cultural climate where music is consumed and forgotten at an increasingly rapid rate, careers often begin and end in the span of just a couple of years. Albums are for cursory listens—visceral but fleeting experiences. Mike Gallagher is part of an older vanguard that continuously strove to make music that required more time and patience out of the audience, with the reward being a string of albums that continue to reveal more depth and power with each subsequent listen. In that sense, Glacier’s Wake is an apt title to the first MGR full-length in six years. This is the type of album that develops slowly, but its panoramic beauty forever alters the landscape.

- Brian Cook

credits

released March 26, 2024

Recorded September 8 to 17, 2021 at Sharkbite Studios, Oakland, CA
Recorded and mixed by Brendan Tobin
Produced by MGR and Brendan Tobin

Mike Gallagher: Guitar, Vocals
Marc Brandi: Guitar , Backup Vocals
Greg Burns: Bass
Patrick Crawford: Drums and Percussion

J Bennett: Bass during the construction of the record and live
Jon Peloso: Vocal Assistance

This album is lovingly dedicated to Terry Gallagher and Mary Ellen Massmann.

Thanks for your interest, this record was a pleasure to make and record. I am infinitely thankful for the for the very talented individuals that helped bring this record into the light.

© & P 2024 Pax Aeternum Digital
This is PAD161. Thank you.

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