New Zealand outfit IVY deliver one of their most compelling releases yet with ‘Gutter’, a darkly atmospheric alt-rock single that combines enormous guitars, haunting production and soaring falsetto vocals.
Formed in high school in 2020, the Dunedin band have developed a wonderfully expansive sound, and ‘Gutter’ demonstrates exactly why they’re becoming such an exciting presence in New Zealand’s alternative scene. Moody guitar passages steadily erupt into full-bodied riffs and driving rhythms, while Jesse Hanan’s vocals bring an ethereal melodic contrast. There are flashes of OK Computer-era Radiohead in its atmosphere, but IVY confidently push the track into territory of their own.
Beneath that captivating sound lies considerable frustration. ‘Gutter’ examines disappointment with the modern world through the fictional perspective of an ordinary soldier gradually questioning everything they once believed they were fighting for. The character becomes a wider metaphor for conformity, social expectations and the uneasy trade-off between individual stability and global instability.
Brooding, powerful and beautifully constructed, ‘Gutter’ sounds like a band reaching another level.
