Bridge The Gap’s Upcoming Album “Gainsayer”: Track by Track
by Caitlin Dennis | April 11th, 2025
The album opens with the title track ‘Gainsayer.” Gainsayer as an english word can be defined as “one who contradicts or denies what is alleged; an opposer. The song begins with a grungy, murky guitar sound before falling into that classic punk rock electrics and immediately bringing up the energy of the song. The energy stays up and definitely is a tone setter for the rest of the album. The song details the story of the ‘gainsayers,’ those opposing the oppression and brainwashing of a government divided, prompt to America’s current situation. Classic alternative raging to a head banger of a song. The energy continues in the next song ‘No Profit In Peace’. One particular line that stuck out to me was ‘Missguided empathy will make soldiers of our young.’ The song is promptly named as lyrics detail how much a government can profit from war.
A tone shift opens the third tack, with a darker sound introducing the the story to follow. A dark sound for the dark feelings detailed in the song seems appropriate. A story of the internal battle fought within a struggling soul I’m sure many could relate to guides us through ‘In The Throes.’The theme of struggle continues in ‘Dustbin’ as the fast paced rock from earlier in the album accompanies the push and pull of lies people tell themselves to justify their actions are explored in this song.
A sound we haven't heard yet in this album opens ‘Broken Language’, a prompt way to introduce a theme we haven't heard yet in the album, love. A bittersweet story of a man who made one too many mistakes and is dealing with the consequences plays out. The bittersweet regret theme continues as ‘Brothers’, while it has a ‘lighter’, for lack of a better word, rock sound than the previous couple tracks, deals with the loss of a brother. But the lighter track behind the dark reality of the songs content provide an interesting contrast.
Next we hear a classic story of the hardships of a struggling artist. We’ve all been there right? A good telling of the inevitability of time on the pressure to create before its too late creates the track ‘The Weight.’ The record slows down, and goes acoustic for a moment, a brief moment of calm before the running feeling I think they are going for to compliment the lyrics: A tale of ‘fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me, fool me three times…’ and you have the ‘Walking Wounded’ in this case.
Babylon is an ancient mesopotamian empire, known for being a major center of power, culture, and religion. ‘Babylon’ as this album’s track details the struggle to know what is beyond that extreme power, with a pretty fun guitar solo in there as well. The theme of wondering whats beyond continues in ‘Dixie Downer’ as an upbeat rock sound accompanies the story of a relationship at a standstill. A bit of a slower sound comes around as ‘Useless Organs’ talks about the uneducated debates people partake in and the consequences of ‘ignorance is bliss.’
The tempo picks back up in appropriate accompaniment of the lyrics of ‘Always’, your classic I will always be there for you story. ‘Something Fierce’ tells the story of young lovers and their struggle with the track behind almost sounding like the feeling of running, apt to the story being told.
The album closes with that murky guitar again, bringing the song intros full circle. The inevitabilities of the struggles people face and pushing through them brings all the other themes explored in the album to a close.
The overall sound of the album is definitely your classic punk rock sound, catchy melodies, fast drums, and wild sounding guitar riffs, with themes of strife, corruption, and heartbreak. While it might not be everyone's cup of tea, I have no doubt that fans of the band are going to enjoy the album.
