Chances are good that Akron, Ohio’s Night Goat grabbed their moniker from one helluva gnarly Melvins tune from a few decades back. But if you’re looking for inspiration for a name or sound or whatever, you could do worse than pinching from the Melvins. And Night Goat don’t disappoint in the noisy, fucked-up soundstakes on new track “Wendigo” and its accompanying, and equally disquieting, video. Yeah, you can kinda use the Melvins as a vague musical reference point here, but only in so much as Night Goat—Julia Bentley (vocals), Chris Bentley (guitar/vocals), Dalin Jones (bass/vocals), Tommy Dalo (drums)—approaches its metallic sludge with a sort of manic, unhinged fury.
The video is a kaleidoscopic overlay of dark, psychedelic imagery and footage of the band playing live. It’s as disorienting as the sludgy track it accompanies. It was created by Rawketsock Design, merging footage from videographer Chrystal Shofroth with live footage shot by Mason Boano. The track, “Wendigo,” comes from Night Goat’s upcoming second album, Totem, which was engineered by Jeremy James at Wreckroom Recording Studio and mastered by Sterling “Spidermonkey” Hankins. Totem is set for release on LP —300 copies on transparent purple vinyl—and digital platforms on March 17 via Black Donut Records. Place your preorder here. And check out the upcoming live dates listed below the video.
Here’s what bassist/vocalist Dalin Jones had to say about the track:
“For me, our song ‘Wendigo’ is about the fear of becoming the one thing you hate, only to gorge yourself on the very thing you despise. And even though you try and kill it, it ends up consuming you inside. As it takes over, you don’t even care. You don’t try to stop it. You welcome the becoming, in fact. It’s a delicious, ravenous poison.”
Night Goat live dates:
4/12/2023 Buzzbin – Akron, OH w/ Vazum [info]
4/22/2023 Strum Around – Sandusky, OH w/ Ghost:Hello [info]
5/22/2023 Buzzbin – Akron, OH w/ Wailin’ Storms, Hiram-Maxim [info]
