Gate - The Numbers LP

As we await the jumbo Dead C reissue series in a couple of months, it feels fitting to dive into Michael Morley’ Gate side project.

A move away from the electronic loop based borderline ambient drift of his fantastic 2010 LP A Republic of Sadness, The Numbers (from 2012 and making its first physical appearance here) sees Morely in territory more familiar to fans of The Dead C. 

Ominously rumbling cracked guitar is placed centre stage, threatening to uncoil from the speakers and take on a life of its own and Morley’s voice takes a more prominent role. Where it’s normally obscured and abstracted in sheets of noise and reverb, here you can actually make out words. Not sure if you could call this album more song based, but the prominence of Morley’s voice here reminds me of something closer to Forgotten Foundation/Julius Caesar-era Smog fronting a noise rock group.

-Mitch