Please Come Back To The Farm by Guts Club

Farms aren't pretty places. For those who have never toiled through the harsh reality of subsistence agriculture, it's easy to romanticize the agrarian lifestyle. Sure, some folks, find meaning in the dirt under their fingernails. But there's no escaping the pervasive stench of blood, sweat, and pig shit. Straining to break free from that suffocating existence, New Orleans sludgy experimentalists Guts Club forge towards collective liberation on their new album Please Come Back To The Farm. The story of this record reflects the band's own history, evolving from dark folk roots to intense doomgaze backed by resonant bellows of baritone sax. And through wailed lyrics and poignant imagery, we learn that self actualization is not a painless process. Escaping the farm means leaving the fields to rot. As the barn crackles and burns to ash, the promise of a new path emerges from the flames. Culminating in an explosive cover of George Michael’s “Father Figure”, any remaining forms of repression are bashed back, celebrating a new harmony between radical individuality and enriching community. Still, even long after the farm has disappeared in the rearview mirror, bittersweet memories still arise of the place that was left behind–even if left for greener pastures.