Don’t Ignore Gilt’s “Ignore What’s Missing”

A blanket of sound swaddles the sadness that sits curled up in the corner of our consciousness. Nothing really envelops angst like a thick bass, a wall of guitars, and a languid, sulky voice waxing and waning through soft whispers and guttural screams. So often, “guitar music” made after the early 2000s lacks so much of the soul that seemed to permeate those earlier, angrier releases. More unfortunately still, many of the bands that spearheaded gazey emo-punk have histories that taint the blue-colored lens of nostalgia that we so often view the music of our adolescence through. As soon as “Ignore What’s Missing” — the title and initial track — surged through my headphones, I was greeted with something familiar and altogether new.

There’s a loud magic in angsty music. Self described as “sad/angrycore”, Gilt is a brooding four-piece consisting of members Nico (bass/vox), Ash (drums), Tristan (guitar/vox), and Tyler (guitar/keys/vox). “Ignore What’s Missing” is Gilt’s first LP, and it truly is a remarkable album. Expert, vintage-tinged production pairs with excellent contrasting arrangements to capture that washy, confrontational late 90s-early 2000s post-hardcore sound while never succumbing to outright imitation. One can hear influences like Touche Amore, mewithoutYou, and Cursive in Gilt’s music but it doesn’t feel like a re-hashing of the material — it’s fresh and enthusiastic.

One of my favorite things that Gilt does throughout the album is the way that they contrast their use of vocals and instrumental sections. There’s a perfect balance of screaming and singing, and the vocal tradeoff between Nico, Tristan, and Tyler keeps the vocal pallette unique and crisp. Every time I listened through the album, I found a new tidbit that sparked my interest. The ebb and flow of layering in the arrangement in each song is genuinely masterful. For example, the manic, thrashy outro of “Children of Animals” drops into a sharp lone guitar line whose shadow glitters directly into a lilting intro to “Blue Ink Pen.” I tend to harp on songs all living in the same space on albums. “Ignore What’s Missing” is like a house — each song is like a different room with its own decor and personality — all the songs live under the same roof and create a consistent, yet never repetitive, sonic environment.

In all, “Ignore What’s Missing” is a strong, thoroughly enjoyable album. It balances nostalgia and honesty, embraces the wall of sound with delicious moments of minimalist vulnerability, and completes the picture with beautiful lyricism. If you’re a fan of heavier music and don’t already listen to Gilt, then you need to add their music to your rotation, STAT. I’m excited to see how Gilt grows and thrilled to have new angsty music to indulge my sadness in.

You can find Gilt’s music, merch, and socials here: https://linktr.ee/gilt

Listen to “Ignore What’s Missing” NOW: https://open.spotify.com/album/5q6rXudjELevNNnGEWMpDQ?si=Jwr4s2GhShm7POSFkQw-yg