ALBUM REVIEW: Garden Home – Garden Home

’…not a single moment here that sees them falter, with it being a solid body of eight tracks that are irrefutably great…’

The intersection between ferocious post-hardcore and floral designs is something that should be discussed in and of itself, but here we’ll stick to the music, and the latest band to embrace this comes in the form of Milwaukee four-piece Garden Home.

With a solid if limited back catalogue and a supposedly impressive live set under their belt (impressive enough that rumours reached this side of the Atlantic, at least), Garden Home elected to make 2024 the year they showed the world what they are capable of with a long-form format, releasing their eponymous debut record last month.

At only 8 tracks long, and clocking in at a brisk 23 minutes, I was wary of approaching this record, fearing it would feel insubstantial or rushed. That, surprisingly, couldn’t be further from the truth. This is an album that is densely packed with some brilliant artistry and blistering musicianship, crammed with emotive weight alongside killer riffs.

Take ‘The Worst Of It’ for a perfect example. Screamed lead vocals are contrasted beautifully with subtle harmonies that soften the blow yet do not lessen the impact, whilst the guitars alternate between scratchy, post-hardcore fury, and jangly melodies that feel surprisingly pop in their execution.

’Grim’ exists almost as a sonic panic attack, with vocalist Dylan Mazurkiewicz repeating ‘The reaper, the reaper/Is coming to keep you’ during the choruses, almost as if thrown into an existential spiral. ‘Not Today’ is a track in a similar vein, but instead of spiralling, it escalates towards a thunderous closing passage marked with percussive blast beats and noisy, distorted guitars.

The highlight of the album easily comes in the form of the monumental closing track, ‘False Spring’. Rapturous in nature, pummelling abrasive screams are merged effortlessly with some truly gorgeous harmonies and poignant lyricism, culminating in an almost ethereal spoken word climax.

Certainly the only issue is that, well, I want more of it. With under half an hour of runtime, the album doesn’t exhaust itself, nor does it last long enough for any filler tracks to appear; it’s all killer material. However, with an entire album of such high quality, it’s hard to imagine that Garden Home would have faltered on a ninth or even tenth track. ‘False Spring’ showed shadows of the band having the capacity to produce some gorgeous ambient interlude passages; perhaps on a future record, the concept they pursue could be deepened by adding such ideas.

Then again, that’s always the best kind of complaint to make, and perhaps that’s intentional in a way; by keeping this record concise and consistent, Garden Home have put out an incredibly engaging and enjoyable debut album that is packed with both power and replay value. There’s not a single moment here that sees them falter, with it being a solid body of eight tracks that are irrefutably great; good things truly must come in small packages.

RATING: 81/100 – Very Good

For Fans Of: La Dispute, Birds in Row, Frail Body, Static Dress, Chalk Hands

Physical copies of the album are available to purchase here.

Follow the band on social media below:

Instagram // Spotify // Twitter