Planning For Burial Desideratum

Received a 7.9 rating from Pitchfork.

Death to false gloom! Desideratum is New Jersey cult gloomgaze act Planning For Burial’s sophomore full-length and the followup to their 2010 statement of purpose, Leaving, issued by legendary lo-fi imprint Enemies List Home Recordings.

Simultaneously nostalgic and futurist sounding, Planning For Burial is the work of mastermind Thom Wasluck, who filters his influences thorough a droning, gloomy spyglass to evoke the most haunting blues this side of the gray waters of the Atlantic. The project is often lumped in with the current wave of “bedroom recording artists,” yet Wasluck stands apart from his peers due in no small part to his education and expertise in sound design. Planning For Burial’s brand of dark shoegaze is hard to categorize, but it incorporates elements of slowcore, doom, drone, ’90s alt-rock, ’80s goth, black metal and mournful, Neil Young-esque regret.

In the last four years, Planning for Burial has released a slew of EPs and splits on various labels, and shared the stage with a wide breadth of musical compatriots from Chelsea Wolfe to Deafheaven, seeming out of place alongside none.