Gnod

Gnod formed in 2006 as a psychedelic noise-rock collective based in Manchester, England. The ensemble has maintained a fluid membership of multi-instrumentalists and vocalists, with core contributors at various points including Paddy Shine, Chris Haslam, Neil Francis, and Marlene Ribeiro. Over time the sound has shifted repeatedly, moving through hallucinatory Krautrock-influenced folk and dubby, acid-drenched post-punk. Far more aggressive and darker than typical acts in the contemporary psychedelic rock sphere, the music shares ground with Public Image Ltd. or Swans as readily as with Hawkwind or Guru Guru. Lyrics and artwork frequently satirize religion, a theme especially prominent on the 2011 album In Gnod We Trust, while also delivering pointed critiques of politics and society, as on 2017’s Just Say No to the Psycho Right-Wing Capitalist Fascist Industrial Death Machine. The band has earned praise for immersive, audience-inclusive performances and installations, appearing at events such as Roadburn and the Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia, and has issued collaborative recordings with White Hills, Justin Broadrick, percussionist João Pais Filipe, and additional artists.

The group’s first release arrived in 2007 as the self-released CD-R Abstehen der Ohren. Sloow Tapes followed in 2008 with the cassette The Somnambulist’s Tale. That year also produced the initial joint effort with American space rock band White Hills, the limited tour CD-R Aquarian Downer. Additional limited CD-Rs and cassettes appeared before the vinyl debut, a self-titled 2009 LP on Pariah Child. The same year brought a split 7"/CD-R with U.K. doom-psych band Bong and a second White Hills collaboration titled Drop Out. Their third joint project with White Hills, Gnod Drop Out with White Hills II, surfaced on Rocket Recordings in 2010; the double-LP’s expansive Krautrock-influenced jams influenced the modern psych scene and prompted multiple re-pressings in subsequent years. Later in 2010 Not Not Fun issued a split 7" with Robedoor as part of its Bored Fortress series.

Gnod began 2011 with a split LP alongside A Middle Sex on Blackest Rainbow. Rocket Recordings issued In Gnod We Trust in June, while the first volume of Chaudelande appeared on Tamed Records in October, with the second following in 2012. Further splits emerged with Gammelfleisch and Shit & Shine, and the 7" single “5th Sun” came out on Trensmat; the same label released the techno-influenced LP Gnod Presents Dwellings & Druss, which featured solo material from Haslam and Shine. In 2013 Rocket Recordings compiled both Chaudelande volumes onto CD, and in 2014 Gnod contributed a limited split 7" with Eternal Tapestry to God Unknown Records’ singles club. Aguirre Records later reissued The Somnambulist’s Tale on vinyl.

Rocket Recordings delivered the ambitious double-CD/triple-LP Infinity Machines in 2015; the set’s extended hypnotic soundscapes drew on free jazz and dark ambient while introducing more overtly political lyrics. That direction continued on the dark, dubby post-punk of 2016’s Mirror, also on Rocket. The same year yielded Behind the Lids, a drone collaboration with Anthony Child (Surgeon). In 2017 the band addressed the political climate on Just Say No to the Psycho Right-Wing Capitalist Fascist Industrial Death Machine, and the concert recording Live at Roadburn 2012 was also issued.

Gnod returned swiftly in 2018 with Chapel Perilous, titled after Robert Anton Wilson’s philosophical writings, followed by another Roadburn set, Be Aware of Your Limitations. The 2020 collaboration Faca de Fogo with Portuguese percussionist João Pais Filipe appeared alongside the remix EP JK Flesh vs. Gnod, issued digitally by the Quietus. Easy to Build, Hard to Destroy, a compilation of early rarities, preceded the next studio album, Mort Du Sens, both arriving in 2021. That summer members convened at the Nutclough Tavern co-op house in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire; under Paddy Shine’s direction and alongside Sam Greenwood, they drew inspiration from the locale and local conversations before recording at Hebden Bridge Underground studios, sessions that produced 2022’s Hexen Valley.