Northern Gloom
Mantra

With ‘Mantra’, Northern Gloom give us a near-instrumental with a sparse six lines of prose, but the song suffers not a bit from a lack of lines.

The song draws on psychedelic roots, with the music drawing comparisons to some of Placebo’s glorious b-sides. There’s also a keyboard sound that conjures a distressed VHS tape, which is echoed in some of the guitar chords.

The song really does create a solid atmosphere for the words, which have a sting waiting in the tail of the last line. It’s an interesting and highly listenable oddity.

Mantra Visualiser

Watch Northern Gloom – ‘Mantra’.

Mantra Lyrics

Arise and there you are, focus
Because there you are, focus

Oh it’s right there
So close you can touch it

I bet you want it, don’t ya?
But you’ll never have it

Written by Fenton on 27th April 2024

Steve Fenton writes in our music, words, and culture categories. He was Editor in Chief for The Mag and covered live music for DV8 Magazine and Spill Magazine. He was often found in venues throughout the UK alongside ace-photographer, Mark Holloway. Steve is also a technical writer and programmer and writes gothic fiction. Steve studied Psychology at OSC, and Anarchy in the UK: A History of Punk from 1976-1978 at the University of Reading.

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