Article Contributed by Calabro Music Media
Published on 2026-06-26
Today, Sick Gazelle releases its second LP, Veld, via Vampire Blues. Comprised of saxophonist/vocalist Bruce Lamont of Yakuza, guitarist Eric Block of Veloce, bassist Douglas McCombs of Tortoise, and drummer Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth, the band delivers a five-track collection that exists somewhere between free-rock confusion and deep-space tranquility, conjuring an uncommon collision of layered saxophone, processed vocalizations, submerged textures, and heavy guitar zones, with eternally outstretched drums steering the band’s improvised pieces.
Expanded from a trio to a quartet with the addition of McCombs following its 2019 debut, Odum, the quartet finds added clarity and structure on Veld without ever losing the spark of the jam.
Sick Gazelle - “Hippies” - Listen/Share HERE.
Sick Gazelle originally began in the late aughts as a duo of Chicago underground mainstays Block and Lamont, playing droning and melodic improv pieces on sax and guitar. The project shifted when they invited Shelley to join for an impromptu recording session. The drummer was already in Chicago working on new sounds with Disappears and White/Light when the three-piece version of Sick Gazelle entered the studio for a stint of improvisations that wrapped up just before Shelley had to catch a flight out of town. Those sessions were eventually edited and reshaped into Odum.
As plans were set in motion for a second album, somewhere along the way Douglas McCombs entered the picture. McCombs and Shelley had been friends since the mid-’80s — before Shelley was in Sonic Youth and before McCombs was in Eleventh Dream Day — and his body of work since then spoke for itself, so bringing him in to play bass was an easy decision.
The quartet iteration of Sick Gazelle opened the sound up even further, with songs finding more defined construction and tighter angles. With these grooves laid down by the rhythm section, Block was more free to explore his ambient impulses on guitar and electronics, and Lamont, already contributing the majority of the band’s melodic character with his washes of multi-tracked sax and swimmy vocal sounds, brought these elements more into the forefront.
The five songs that make up Veld showcase a band in a state of free-flowing discovery while also drawing from a deeper intention than before. While these pieces are sculpted from improvisations, they have been refined into song forms that illuminate the strengths of the individual players and the chemistry of the quartet version of the band.
This comes through in Veld’s moments of reflective subtlety on tracks like “I’ll Come Running,” in the foreboding tension of the cinematic “Ocean Always Wins,” as well as in the charged grooves and dubby undercurrents of the sideways rocker “Hippies.” Lamont’s usually wordless slipstream of vocals now sometimes emerge with lyrics, and even in the case of “February,” an honest-to-god chorus — a first for Sick Gazelle.
Understated electronics percolate throughout the quieter moments of the album, and when the winds shift and the seas become rocky, the entire band locks into a singular momentum to weather the sound-storm. Veld is a new chapter, one so different from where Sick Gazelle was on their last album that it’s impossible not to wonder what happens next.
Sick Gazelle - Veld Track Listing
1. February
2. Hippies
3. I’ll Come Running
4. Ocean Always Wins
5. Maybe You Were Right
Available now on vinyl and digital formats HERE.
