Guitar – We’re Headed to the Lake

I’m always on the lookout for guitar bands that are doing something different. Built around the restless mind of Saia Kuli, Guitar is less a band in the traditional sense and more an ongoing experiment. Kuli grew up on the margins of the city in an area affectionately called The Numbers. A place where you had to work hard to carve out a voice, where scenes could feel closed off unless you fought your way in. He cut his teeth with endless demos, four track experiments, and a string of misfit bands, including Gary Supply and a stint with Nick Normal’s chaotic guitar collective. For a while he threw himself into punk, then he lost himself in beat making. Ultimately, he found himself staring at the guitar in the corner of his bedroom and realised the only way forward was to smash everything he loved into one idea. That became Guitar.

The debut Casting Spells on Turtlehead came out of Philly’s Julia’s War label (one of the best labels out there in this guys opinion) and quickly picked up attention. It had shoegaze fuzz, oddball pop, jagged punk, and a lot of charm. What it didn’t have was a clear destination. That’s what We’re Headed to the Lake provides. It’s a leap forward, a full-band effort with Kuli joined by drummer Nikhil Wadhwa, cousin, wife, and co-producer Morgan Snook. Together they’ve made something that stretches past genre tags and lands in a sweet spot between Guided By Voices, Pavement, and Teenage Fanclub, but warped into its own crooked shape.

Kuli summed it up when talking about single ‘Pizza for Everyone’:

“This song is both an epic non-sequitur rally cry and also about being broke and bored sitting on a couch.”

They say that balancing act between humour, honesty, and absurdity runs through the whole record so let’s dive in and see for ourselves.

The curtain lifts with ‘A+ for The Rotting Team’. Straight out the gate this has me hooked. Chords stumble, rhythms sway, but there’s an intent in the chaos. As soon as the song switches gears and launches into the core melody I was beaming ear to ear. This is gonna make Malkmus green with envy. I have a feeling this album is gonna be a special listen.

Then comes ‘Chance to Win’, and suddenly we’re somewhere else entirely. It’s tender, almost etherial, with Kuli’s wife lending a vocal line that softens the edges. The arrangements bloom, strings swell, the melody drifts like a fever dream. The contrast with the opener is shocking but also makes sense. Guitar have always been about refusing the easy path, and this track proves they can do intimacy without losing their identity.

‘Cornerland’ jerks the wheel back again. It’s jagged, messy, post punk in feel, built around a chugging guitar part. I love how the parts loop and grind around each other. I especially love the picked-out guitar break mid song that clearly draws a line between the frantic first section and almost baroque closing. Man, you just don’t know what’s coming next.

Then you get ‘Ha’, which is over before you know it. A thirty second punk jab that feels like they’re letting off steam. Blink and you’ll miss it, but it’s the kind of throwaway moment that actually deepens the record. I really want to hear what this would sound like a fully realised song. Then again, who am I to say it isn’t.

‘The Game Has Changed’ is where the album kicks it up a gear. Imagine a Weezer single but with an experimental wonky edge. Big hooks and choruses remain, but they’re warped by riffs that bend out of tune and harmonies that seem deliberately wrong. It’s catchy and makes you scratch your head at the same time. I can’t get fathom why this works so well but by god it does!

‘Everyday Without Fail’ follows with what might be the album’s high point. At first, it’s breezy, an upbeat indie rocker with “guitarmonies” (yes that is a word!)  locked tight. Then the song shifts into a hulking hardcore head down ass up pounding rocker. I particularly love the vocal harmonies (vormanies???) on this one. Like screaming into a tornado.

That leads into ‘Office Clots’, which captures the monotony of working life better than any straight lyric could. It’s droning, repetitive, atonal, hypnotic but in a good purposeful way. The vocals sound like an exhausted mind looping the same thought at a desk. It’s bleak, but there’s humour in the way it leans into the boredom until it becomes a psychedelic experience.

By the time ‘Pizza for Everyone’ rolls around, you’re ready for release. It’s a slacker anthem, guitars loose and meandering, lyrics drifting between silliness and sincerity. Whilst you can hear Pavement in the shuffling rhythm, there’s something more personal in the vocal delivery. Guitars vary from heavy fuzz to angular wandering solo lines which keep you on your toes throughout as the band switch it up.

‘Pinwheel’ shifts gears again. The song begins stripped back to guitar and voice kinda like Gardener in places. Slowly but surely the sonic canvas is filled in. Vocal harmonies, fuzz lead guitar and bass punctuate the mid-section before the drums come crashing in with an old timey organ. I really am in awe of the sonic diversity on this album so far.

Then comes ‘A Toast to Tovarishch’, which sets its foundation on picked guitar riff that brings to mind fIREHOSE. That melodic moment is countered with darker tones in the verses. It never loses that urgency though, that nervous energy that drives the song on.

‘The Chicks Just Showed Up’ leaves a little empty space at the start, sparse enough that you wonder what direction it’s about to take. Then, the noise swells as if the room has just filled with bodies. The chicks really do show up, and with them comes this infectious bustle of sound. There’s a constant shift in the vocal melodies, weaving and overlapping in a way that keeps your ear happy.  All the while, guitar and bass grind away underneath in a steady rumble. It’s that contrast that makes the song so fun. The rhythm section keeps you grounded while the voices spiral off in different directions.

Closer ‘Counting on a Blow Out’ opens in strange fashion, like two robots trying to talk to each other through broken speakers. The tones are clipped and awkward, almost playful in their weirdness. Then the track begins to stretch itself out. Little bursts of melody slip through the static, drums shuffle into place, and what started as fractured noise slowly morphs into something more human. By the time it’s fully formed, you’ve got this bustling wee number buzzing with energy. That oddball opening makes the eventual groove hit harder, as if the band had to wrestle the song out of the machines and back into their own hands. It ends the record on a high, playful but also oddly cathartic.

We’re Headed to the Lake feels like the moment Guitar were always building toward. It’s messy, unpredictable, hilarious, heartfelt, and so full of ideas you almost need a second listen just to catch them all. I’m not one for hyperbole but this album feels important. Y’know the way that hearing Bleach or Surfer Rosa let you know something amazing was coming next. I think this is Guitars moment. Kuli has turned his restless experiments into something bigger to create an album that never once sits still. One track will make you smile broadly, the next will blindside you with beauty, and by the end you feel like you’ve been on the trip with them. The lake isn’t just a place they’ve arrived at, it’s a state of mind, and after this record you’ll want to head there yourself.

We’re Headed to the Lake is out October 10th on cassette and CD via Julia’s War Recordings. Follow the band on the Guitar Bandcamp page.

(Can I just petition Julias War for a vinyl release please. This album absolutely warrants and deserves it!)

You can follow Guitar on social media here…

• Instagram
• Bandcamp
• Link Tree