1. Snooze You Lose
2. Look at My Phone
3. Lowering
4. Mystery
5. Tunnel Traps
6. Sarabandit
7. Blue Cat
8. Traveller / Caravan
9. Erase My Mind

Though Toronto rockers Hot Garbage’s signature tinge of moody, heavy psychedelia remains present on Precious Dream, their forthcoming sophomore album careens at high speeds into a darker world of searing post-punk riffs, grappling with themes of dread, loss, the resilience of the human spirit and the highs and lows of solitude. From the onset, elegant yet brutalist sonic architectures provide the scenery for an escape route, while Alex and Juliana Carlevaris as well as Dylan Gamble‘s cryptic poetic spurts act as surreal signage. By the end of the journey, we are left with a strangely pleasant void, but also with an uncontrollable urge to backtrack into the outfit’s beautiful 36-minute musical trap.

Following the release of EPs Max Blonda in November 2017 and Coco’s Paradise in April 2019, Hot Garbage entered the studio with Juno-nominated producer Graham Walsh (of evil experimental Toronto supergroup Holy Fuck) in early 2020 to cut a selection of tracks live off the floor. The result was a blazing standalone single, Easy Believer, and the group’s debut long play offering, RIDE, composed of 33 reverb-soaked minutes to be pressed to vinyl and released on Mothland in October 2021. The debut full-length quickly made its way into SiriusXM rotation via CBC Radio 3 and The Verge, while also climbing to #3 on the Earshot Top 50 and #82 on the NACC Top 200. Stephan Boissonneault at Aquarium Drunkard refers to the album as “a feasts for the senses containing fuzz-filled riffs, whirling organ, an adept utilization of post-punk auxiliary percussion, and hypnotic vox,” adding that “it’s the kind of album you throw on loud when you want to get lost and laugh into the void.” British critic Iain Key at Louder Than War stoically bestows his seal of approval: “Highly Recommended”.

Aside from studio endeavours, Hot Garbage have toured extensively throughout Canada, the United States, Europe and the United Kingdom, bringing their intense live sets to festival slots at Levitation (Austin, TX), SXSW (Austin, TX), Treefort Music Fest (Boise, ID), Freakout Fest (Seattle, WA), Sled Island (Calgary, AB), Sappyfest (Sackville, NB), FME (Rouyn-Noranda, QC), M for Montreal (Montreal, QC) and Pop Montreal (Montreal, QC), as well as on tour with L.A. Witch and Frankie & The Witch Fingers. They have also shared the stage with Osees, Ty Segall, JJUUJJUU, Mdou Moctar, Wand, Kikagaku Moyo and Dead Meadow. After catching them live, Ben Lemieux at Quip Magazine concludes that “the band understands the theatrically implied expectations of the genre, striking a perfect balance between the gossamer vocal quality of early shoegaze and the cranked-up, guitar pyrotechnics emblematic of the 60s and 70s rockers.”

The quartet now returns with Precious Dream, a sprawling collection of songs written in isolation and brought together in studio in late 2022 with visionary producer Graham Walsh (METZ, Preoccupations, Holy Fuck, !!!) at the helm once again, offering an exhilarating new breath into the world of post-punk and modern psychedelia, a listening experience that is equally cathartic and introspective. Hot Garbage’s sophomore album is set for release on January 19, 2024 via Mothland (CA/US) & Exag’ Records (EU/UK).