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They Are Gutting a Body of Water

They Are Gutting a Body of Water (TAGABOW; stylized in all lowercase) is an American shoegaze band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The band was initially the solo project of songwriter and guitarist Douglas Dulgarian, but has expanded to a full lineup including bassist Emily Lofing, guitarist PJ Carroll, and drummer Ben Opatut.

History

Douglas Dulgarian (born 1990 or 1991) grew up in Middletown, New York. He relocated to Albany in 2010, where he formed the band Jouska. Around the time the band released the album topiary in 2016, Dulgarian moved to Philadelphia and began to perform as TAGABOW with drummer Ben Opatut.

TAGABOW began as a solo project by Dulgarian with the tapes they are gutting a body of water and sweater curse. The band released its first proper album, gestures been, in 2018. In 2019, TAGABOW released Destiny XL, which was recorded in a former house show venue in West Philadelphia and influenced by William Gibson's book Neuromancer. The album was re-released in 2021 by Citrus City Records. In 2022, the band announced their signing to California label Smoking Room and released the split EP An Insult to the Sport and the album lucky styles. That same year, Jouska released visions from the bridge, originally planned for 2018, and Dulgarian put out a rap EP under the name FC Goris. In 2023, Dulgarian contributed to seven tracks on Jane Remover's album Census Designated, and TAGABOW released the visual album Expansion Pak on YouTube. In 2024, the band released the single "Krillin" featuring Greg Mendez and Sun Organ.

Dulgarian also runs Julia's War Recordings, which has put out music from bands including Feeble Little Horse and Wednesday.

Reception and musical style

TAGABOW's music has been highly praised by critics. Philadelphia radio station WXPN wrote that "[d]espite being a sonic blur, Destiny XL has this eerie ability to elicit hyper-specific feelings that blindside you" and described the band as "a homage to the unknown, to the visceral, and to the things that haunt us." Stereogum described An Insult to the Sport as "one of the year’s best EPs", called lucky styles "beautiful and fascinating", and included TAGABOW as part of a larger "new wave of American shoegaze". NPR described lucky styles as "a twisted tour of the band's every impulse". Chicago Reader praised the "loose, uninhibited creativity" of lucky styles and said the band "toy[s] with shoegaze like Van Leeuwen screws around with ice cream".

Genres besides shoegaze that have influenced the band include drum and bass, breakcore, jungle, and reggaeton. TAGABOW has been compared to the Irish band My Bloody Valentine and to Philadelphia contemporaries Alex G and the Spirit of the Beehive. Original breakcore and ambient interludes produced by Dulgarian feature prominently on both Destiny XL and lucky styles, and are played on a sampler while the band tunes during live sets. TAGABOW is also known to perform on the floor instead of the stage while facing away from the audience. At one point, TAGABOW played a show at a Sonic Drive-In in New Jersey.