Album Review: New Miserable Experience - Gild The Lily
Reviewed by Rob Barker
Philly Darkwavers New Miserable Experience step back onto the scene with their latest album Gild The Lily, coming out 23rd January 2026 through Pelagic Records. I didn’t know what to expect from this going in, which is always fun, and actually had a pretty decent experience on listening.
Commencing with Heartsick, we’re straight in with the dark dance feel, accompanied by 80’s new-wave clarity of vocals and Gary Numan vibes from keys and beats. It’s important to outline now, I think, that this isn’t just simply an 80’s worship album. The next track, Ordinary People, gave me strong vibes of the more recent Mew sound, before turning more aggressive, grimy, and progressive with the 30 Seconds To Mars, Muse feel of The Devil We Know.
The House of Denial shows off a slower, more minimalist atmosphere, with a clean guitar tone that actually reminded me of Chon’s work. More minimalism continues in the powerfully bleak Infinite Sadness, emphatic in its brevity. Payback From God turns the goth dial higher, instrumentally reminding me of a lighter version of a Korn or Type-O Negative track.
Harsh noise but done pleasantly in Yours to Bury showcases almost hymn-like vocals, progressing nicely to Perfect Things whilst simultaneously becoming a notably more “rocky” track, with its nasty sounding bass drowning out the extra-clean vocals and creating interesting juxtaposition.
Letters to Insomnia is my favourite track on the album, conjuring up strong memories of MGMT. It’s shorter than you might expect it to be, I felt this one could have gone on into an epic outro type of direction, but it actually ends with a pretty cool and abrupt cutoff, challenging my own expectations and cliches of music.
Another more chilled piece with Perfect Blue, again with the abrupt ending. A good track, but I found it noticeable that both this track and the previous one had similar endings; maybe I wouldn’t have spotted that if they weren’t net to each other on the listing. Running the Fear of it Dry plays next with more of the same, yet still pretty cool feel, finishing off the release with Ataraxia, presenting offbeat freakiness and despairing vocals working together well to throw you off in an absurd, strange stumble through the undergrowth. Again, this song seems shorter than it should be, especially for the ending track, yet if anything this increases the desire to replay rather than sating to the point of being able to leave.
Gild The Lily is a soundscape of ethereal, pleasant darkness. A barrage of darkwave and other influences, including vibes that reminded me of Greg Puciato’s The Black Queen project. It’s refreshing to hear music like this from time to time to break up the algorithm and get something that’s somehow familiar yet at the same time different to wrap your head around. Give these guys a listen.
