LáGoon - Kill The Messenger (Track Premiere)

Written by: The Administrator

My personal familiarity with LáGoon goes way back to the genesis of ye olde Sleeping Village. Back when we were reviewing music exclusively over on Instagram, the Portland-based project was dropping, at a very rapid clip, some excellent scuzzy 'n' fuzzy proto skater punk by way of garage-doom-stoner-psych-rock. They were raw and gritty and loose in a way that felt intrinsically fun above all else, exuding a punky ethos that thumbed its nose at the pastiche of polish for the sake of polish. And every new release was better than the last.

While (I believe) we only every reviewed 2020's Father of Death in these less-than hallowed halls, I've followed their career pretty consistently over the years. As such, it felt somewhat providential that LáGoon's PR should reach out asking if I was interesting in premiering a track--a track that, I quickly discovered, I had actually heard in primordial form back in 2018. "Kill The Messenger," today's song in question, appeared on an EP that has since been removed from streaming. I immediately recalled that "Kill The Messenger" was my favorite from said EP, and was pleased to see (and hear) that it has been reworked, reimaged, and otherwise been brought up to the current LáGoon standard.

We're pleased to present "Kill The Messenger" below a day before its official release on Feb. 18th. Give it a listen below! As always, we'll meet you on the far side of the fold.

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LáGoon · Kill the Messenger

As we've only come to expect, LáGoon revels in that sweet dirty fuzz that I can only imagine sounds absolutely thunderous in a live environment. This track certainly doesn't break the established formula, and indeed leans into a hefty growl. The riffage is raw and raucous. It oozes a buzzing yet grounded gravitas, and acts as the perfect companion to the simple and infectious titular vocal refrain. Like unto their best work, it is catchy as hell--on multiple occasions over the past few days, I've caught myself singing along, which primarily involves shouting "Kill The Messenger" with relatively wild abandon. I'm a particular fan of how the song slowly unwinds in the back half, where it slows things down, and then somehow slows things down even further, basking briefly in a laconic drawl that eventually devolves into fading drone with a nice drum fill to wrap things up.

On the surface, this doesn't seem like the kind of song breezes by, but it does feel significantly shorter than its runtime. Always a plus in my book. An (almost) 4 minute track that feels like it is over in half the time implies engaging songcraft.

"Kill the Messenger" serves as the second single (check out the rockin' "You Tried (You Failed)" here!) from LáGoon's forthcoming album Forget What You Heard, which will be released at some point later this year. Both tracks revitalize the spirit of LáGoon's 2018-2021 run, and ​I'm looking forward to listening to both in the context of the album as a whole. 

​LáGoon - "Kill the Messenger" out Feb. 18th, 2026. Stream above, and check out 'em on bandcamp here!

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LáGoon can be found at Bandcamp and Instagram