Wielding a blocky 8-bit arsenal, the Depreciation Guild's more likely to attract attention from video game blogs than music publications. Considering the tacky rep the video game aesthetic carries in indie circles, this doesn't seem like such an unfair relegation for the Brooklyn duo. However, as the Nintendo generation continues producing new bands-- especially those who know no world before the Famicom system-- the use of these 8-bit blips doesn't smack so strongly of nostalgic novelty so much as it represents an integral musical element in these people's lives. In that vein, the Guild's debut In Her Gentle Jaws sticks its neck out further than Nintendocore staples like the Advantage or Minibosses, never resorting to tongue-in-cheekery while decorating its original compositions in NES furnishings.
As appropriate as it is that In Her Gentle Jaws kicks off with a cinematic title track tailor-made for an RPG start screen, it's the only song here that could plausibly come from an NES cartridge-- and even that's a stretch. Despite being heavily steeped in the four-channel efficiency of legendary Nintendo composer Koji Kondo, the instrumental turns to moody Disintegration-style reverb guitar for some extra muscle by the song's midway point. By the dense shoegaze of second track "Sky Ghosts", the duo's already winnowed their virtual stylings into mere ornamentation for In Her Gentle Jaws' two weapons of choice-- laptop pop and shoegaze.
Surprisingly, the mishmash of these two genres with video game music feels organic, and by the end of In Her Gentle Jaws these monophonic pulse channels don't stick out any more than a guitar with fuzz distortion. The Guild pull this off especially well when they play up the genres' least common denominators-- escapism, emotional expression, and, of course, the fact that these styles of music are conducive to brooding alone in your bedroom. Nothing cures the blues like a few levels of "Super Mario Bros.", so naturally the romantic pathos of "Butterfly Kisses" gets introduced by spaceship launch SFX straight from "Metroid". The bouncy laptop melodies and tender vocals of Kurt Feldman and Christoph Hochheim may bite Ben Gibbard a little, but the Guild's seldom so up front about their feelings. For example, is the chorus of Cocteau Twins 2.0 song "Sky Ghosts" ("Whatever cloud you're on/ I will find you") a heartfelt plea to a lost love or a trash-talking gamer threatening the Hammer Brothers?
The back half of In Her Gentle Jaws jettisons any emo tendencies, instead opting to explore the recesses of this semi-digital realm they've created. Although not quite as enticing as the first half's rapid-fire hooks and ADD song structures, the latter tracks form a formidable wall of sound, albeit one built using a lot of coin blocks. Closer "Heavy Eyes" builds mostly on ethereal guitar and vocals, but it can't climax until the 8-bit lead comes in, sounding strangely feasible in what could pass for a Slowdive song. If video game music's ever to have a Loveless, the Guild's taking a serious stab at it, regardless of how many mushroom power-up jokes you got for them.
