Preview: My Gold Mask - "Leave me Midnight"

Although Warpaint have fallen out of the spotlight since their 2010 release "The Fool", they have proven that the world is ready for more dark, female-fronted rock bands. After all, the buzz earned them considerable attention from critics and actual air time on MTV: a network that almost never plays rock videos anymore (let alone videos at all). That has to count for something.

My Gold Mask's front-woman is drawing from the same dark pool of inspiration as Warpaint's Emily Kokal and even The Raveonette's Sharin Foo. Cavernous drumming is paired with the echoing, pitch-shifted guitar which ends up sounding like calypso drums being played inside an airplane hangar. The music sounds larger than life. It also sounds amazingly tribal and primitive. The echoing vocals are evocative of a group of monks belting out plainsong inside a giant cathedral. 

The full album will drop in February. If the timing proves to be good, and the music is dispersed in just the right way,  My Gold Mask could definitely make a big splash. Their sound is sombre and mysterious enough to stick out in a sea of new releases this year but close enough to a paradigm we know has worked in the past.

"Nightfalls" has the album's strongest introduction. Feeling much like Patti Smith's "Because the Night", it demonstrates real hook-writing. "I, Animal" also has an amazing intro hook that makes it immediately distinct.