Gorilla Chief

Brooklyn’s Gorilla Chief makes a messy racket that feels on the verge of completely falling apart but always—well, mostly—manages to hold together in the form of lean, undeniable songs shining from somewhere underground, beneath all the grit and grime. It’s a sound conjured from the garage, let loose on the 13th floor, and pieced together Sunday morning with a heavy heart and a cold beer.

Gorilla Chief’s new EP Work in Progress isn’t so much an ode to New York City as it is a result of it. Driven by the anxiety and tension that can’t help but build over years living under its thumb, it is about navigating the dark corners of the city's nightlife, the constant change, and how it feels to simultaneously love and loathe the place you call home. Those competing ideas are reflected in these songs' stylistic incongruity, while still sharing a common thread - a sense of urgency that wouldn't be the same, or even exist, had they not been written in the apartment bedrooms, dingy rehearsal spaces, and isolated upstate cabins that they were. This is the sound of feeling the pressing urge to flee while knowing full well that, for good or ill, you ain’t going anywhere.

Gorilla Chief’s tracks

• B. Best That I Can Do by Gorilla Chief
• A. Goin' Out by Gorilla Chief
• Work In Progress by Gorilla Chief
• Townes by Gorilla Chief
• My Oh My by Gorilla Chief
• Losing My Mind by Gorilla Chief