Last week, I received an unexpected postcard in the mail. It was from The Homeless Gospel Choir and on it, the band revealed they were releasing a brand new album that week. Suddenly, my anticipation went into overdrive. Instead of most releases that get months of pre-release hype, this album was going to hit that week, completely out of the blue. Music doesn’t really surprise much anymore these days, so when it finally does, it feels even more special. The announcement, and when I finally heard it, the album itself, were extremely pleasant surprises. I’ve been a fan of The Homeless Gospel Choir from the days of them being a solo act, all the way to their new configuration as a full band. It’s been absolutely amazing to hear the growth and progression as each album is released. With Fourth Dimension Intervention, The Homeless Gospel Choir have once again put out an absolute gem.
I think Fourth Dimension Intervention is the realization of the sound Derek Zanetti sought out for when he went from a solo artist to full band. That’s not to say his first effort as a full band, This Land is Your Landfill, isn’t amazing in its own right, because it is. It’s just that Fourth Dimension Intervention finds the band at full-strength and on a new record label. With the previous full-length, not all of the band members were part of the recording process. This time around, all five members were part of the process from start to finish, which resulted in a more rich and textured album.
The Homeless Gospel Choir will always be a punk band to me, but with their new album, their sound has transcended the genre.
There are some punk anthems on this album, to be sure, but that’s just scratching the surface. Fuzzy guitars. Indie sensibilities. Avant garde noise rock. Listening to Fourth Dimension Intervention is an experience; a trip through a kaleidoscope of emotions and music styles. With how diverse the album is, everything fits together perfectly. I credit the diversity to finally having the entire band together and working with a new producer, John Hoffman. The band’s previous few offerings were produced by Chris #2 from Anti-Flag. He brought a more polished and catchy sound to the band. Hoffman, on the other hand, used all of the tools in his arsenal to really draw out something pretty special.
The album starts with “BRAINWASHBRAINWASH,” a frenetic noisy punk anthem decrying everything in our lives that conditions us to act or think a certain way. It goes after the usual suspects like cable news. Then, they dig into the middle class American dream as a pyramid scheme. As the song goes on, the intensity and speed increases until everything just stops.
A few songs later, we’re treated to a more poppy and sweet love song. “Tender Hearted Jellyfish Alien Boyfriend” just makes me feel good. I’m a sucker for inflections that feel unintended in a song. I think there are some in this song. When Derek sings, “I started crying when you told me that you liked me back,” there’s a moment that feels like happy relief in his voice. Even if it’s intentional, I’m going to pretend it’s not, because that one part of the song gives me a sense of charming innocence every single time I listen to it. And, for those of us who listened to Derek’s livestreams during the first year of the pandemic, there’s a full band rendition of “Cow People” on the album that is great.
One of the things I like most about The Homeless Gospel Choir is how relatable their lyrics are.
They do an absolutely amazing job of expressing the frustrations I have with politics, religion, and society. Further, there’s always at least one or two songs on each album that hit me on a more personal level. They have a knack for writing songs that deal with mental health that are both easy to relate to, and leave you with a sense of hope. For this album, those songs for me are “Never Too Old” and “A Chameleon, Sometimes.”
I think when the final chapter is written about The Homeless Gospel Choir, this album will be seen as a changing point. It’s an ambitious blueprint of what the band wants to be, and what to expect in the future. The punk rock ethos and sensibilities remain from the solo acoustic days, but the story is just getting richer. This might sound tacky and cliche, but Fourth Dimension Intervention may just end up being The Homeless Gospel Choir’s Pinkerton. It’s that good. The songs deserve multiple listens because there’s just so much going on that it’s be hard to catch it all on the first listen. It’s the best punk album I’ve heard this year, and I don’t anticipate another coming along to dethrone it. This one is special. Derek, Maura, Megan, Matt, and Craig truly released a gem with this welcome surprise of an album.