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Oct 04, 2021 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Wes O'Connor

Later this month, L.A. post-rock outfit Gypsum is set to release their self-titled debut album, after over seven years in the making. The band initially joined together back in 2014 as a weekly music school jam session with guitarist and vocalist Sapphire Jewell, guitarist and vocalist Anna Arboles, and drummer Jessy Reed. In the seven years since each has made the rounds in L.A.’s DIY scene. Jewell co-founded Cuffed Up and plays guitar for Illuminati Hotties, Arboles works as a front-of-house engineer, and Reed drums for several other projects including Rosie Tucker. Now, at long last, the band’s polyrhythmic rhythms, swirling layered riffs, and electric chemistry gets their own chance to shine.

After sharing their first singles from the record, “Follow Me” and “Give It,” the band is back with their latest single, “Lungs,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“Lungs” finds the band drenched in feedback and effects, with Arboles and Jewell trading layered guitar lines and celestial harmonies all anchored by Reed’s winding snare patterns. It’s a striking meeting of light and dark, with Arboles’ guitar adding layers of murky fuzz and distortion while Jewell explores spacey, cosmic melodies. Yet, the band finds a collaborative groove within the chaos, uniting the song’s conflicting facets with magnetic chemistry.

Arboles says of the track, “My biggest memory about this song is writing it in the middle of summer in this tiny rehearsal space we had that would just bake in the sun all day. We didn’t have AC, so we would soak and then freeze bandanas in the mini fridge to wrap around our necks and then just sweat it out while we worked out this song. Somehow it feels fitting for the song that is about breaking out of your own body to get what you want.”

Jewell says of the song, “I’ve always loved this song because it was so purely created in the moment with all of us. Usually, in Gypsum songs, someone brings in a riff or a song idea but I think ‘Lungs’ rose purely out of us jamming and attempting to write something that didn’t exist before. I love the heaviness of this song with the heavenly harmonies. It’s one of my favorites to play live. I also love Anna’s lyrics. They’re brilliant and so fun to read along to.”

Check out the song below and watch for Gypsum, out October 12th via Sonic Ritual.