Tender Futures by Female Gaze

For anyone who’s experienced a significant, debilitating health crisis, those days, weeks, months, or years spent in pain result in an unparalleled sort of disorientation. Art rock band Female Gaze recounts this experience on Tender Futures, an album that shares our temporal confusion through inventive looping compositions. By beginning and ending each track at the same ambient point, Female Gaze designed the songs to be played in any order, representing the meaninglessness of day and night, morning and evening, week and weekend in this homebound state. Within each track, consistent riffs, rhythms, and progressions gradually tighten and compress, giving these winding journeys a sense of increasing claustrophobia before suddenly descending into the familiar ambient swamp. Despite the pain and longing of this moment, Female Gaze always employs a radiantly hopeful tone, giving themselves the grace and space to recover as their world stagnates around them. Though this self-acceptance may not always come easily, Tender Futures serves as a valuable companion to recovery, encouraging us to take things one step at a time.