Black Hole Party by Thousand Foot Whale Claw (Review)

I don’t know what musical styles “Thousand Foot Whale Claw” conjure up for you, but when I first saw the band’s name, I wasn’t expecting spacey, psyched-out synthesizer music of the finest variety. But on Black Hole Party, the Austin-based musical collective — which consists of members of Troller, Single Lash, Future Museums, and S U R V I V E — present six epic-length compositions of mind-expanding synth-rock.

The fact that members of S U R V I V E are involved might lead you to think that Black Hole Party hews close to their contributions to the Stranger Things soundtrack. But if you’re expecting nostagia-laden synthwave, you’ll be disappointed. The quartet is more influenced by krautrock and German prog-rock from the ’70s. Case in point: “No Kingdom,” which slowly and expertly takes shape over several minutes until its otherworldly synth-scapes achieve critical mass. Later, the trippy “Naiad” finds Thousand Foot Whale Claw playing with ragged drones and lethargic pacing that recall classic Pure Phase-era Spiritualized.

There are moments when the group’s music meanders a bit too much (e.g., the 10+ minute “Genesis Effect”). But when they regain their focus on album closer “Double Abyss,” with its inexorable rhythms, fiery guitar solos, and sweeping synthesizer tones, the group’s music is about as hard to resist as a black hole’s event horizon.