On May 1st, Newfoundland’s Gallery released Rolling Stop, their debut EP, through Candlepin Records. The five-track collection, recorded over several years of transition and reformation, represents the culmination of the band’s evolution from high school screamo beginnings to fuzzed-out slowcore.
It was mastered by Will Killingsworth, with cover art provided by Smoking Room—whose visual aesthetic, the band says, was a natural fit. “Their aesthetic has been a big source of inspiration for us,” Gallery explains, “so when we decided we wanted artwork in a similar style… we figured—why not go straight to the source?”
Gallery formed in 2019 in St. John’s, but the band’s roots stretch further back. Guitarist Liam Ryan, drummer Nick Hunt, and vocalist/guitarist Nick Corcoran first played together in emo and screamo outfits like Swimming and Monroe.
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The early iteration of Gallery—then featuring synths, a drum machine, and dream-pop leanings—began shifting toward heavier sounds after multiple lineup changes. “Corcoran described the guitar sound as ‘skramz meets jazz,’” Ryan says, and when Hunt began learning drums from scratch, the resulting simplicity became a defining feature.
Lockdowns stalled their momentum, and after another lineup change, the trio brought in bassist Maria Peddle—an established local multi-instrumentalist. That addition, according to the band, was the turning point: “Once Maria joined, everything clicked. We stripped back the effects, leaned into the fuzz, and found a sound somewhere between Neil Young’s ‘ditch trilogy,’ Duster, and Happy Diving.”
Thematically, Rolling Stop revolves around stasis, reflection, and identity. As the band puts it: the EP is about being trapped in physical and mental spaces, understanding your own callousness, accepting limitations, and confronting the small crises that grow out of stillness.
Rolling Stop documents a band capturing its current state—grounded in winter stillness, leftover gear, and the faded edges of past bands and empty houses.
For Gallery, the EP is less of a beginning and more of a freeze-frame: half echo, half motion.
Check out the full track by track rundown below.
“Hoarders (Buried Alive)”
Nick Corcoran – Instrumentally, “Hoarders (Buried Alive)” was written during a snowstorm. Nick and Liam lived in separate apartments within the same house, and since we were snowed in we decided to jam. The structure of the song came about pretty instinctively as we played freely. Lyrically, the song looks at the hoarding of both physical objects, as well as the inability to let go of memories and emotions. I’ve always had a hard time throwing objects away, assigning complex significance to things that would otherwise be useless. As the walls started to slowly close in from all this stuff, I began to realize that I was doing this with my mental process as well. It’s about being displaced by the things we hold onto.
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“Play”
Liam – “Play” is a track that Nick Corcoran and I wrote during the second COVID-19 lockdown. At the time, we were living together—it was the dead of winter, and we had nothing to do but sit around the house. Every February, there’s an international event called the RPM Challenge, where musicians aim to record an album within the month just for the sake of it. Nick and I were working on an RPM album using my 4-track cassette recorder. Most of the songs came together spontaneously. For this one, Nick handed me his guitar, which was tuned to an open tuning, and this was one of the first things that came out. I wrote the lyrics on the spot. It’s loosely about reflection, losing track of time, and the regret that can come with that. Recording this EP gave us a chance to breathe new life into the song—this version is definitely a step up from the original demo.
“Leeches”
Nick Corcoran – “Leeches” is a sort of patchwork quilt of a song. The verses were a standalone piece, and the chorus was also its own piece intended to be a really short song. I wasn’t totally satisfied with either on their own, and when I brought them to the band, it was suggested we weave them together.
This seemed like an obvious choice since both pieces dealt with a similar theme of beginning to understand our own capacities for callousness, and how coming to terms with our own coldness can spark a crisis of identity— we don’t want to believe that we act in such a way, it doesn’t align with who we think we are.
“Figure Out”
Nick Corcoran – “Figure Out” is another track written by Nick and Liam while living together during an intense Covid-19 lockdown. While it is literally about being stuck in a dingy old house in the dead of winter, I think the song deals with accepting the circumstances we are stuck in, learning to suck it up and take it all in stride. Ultimately, the song is meant to combat self-pity.
“(Stuck on the Shovel)”
Nick Corcoran – “Stuck on the Shovel” was written entirely while recording. While working on the bed tracks, Liam began to pick this pretty chord progression and we decided to record it. As we were finishing recording vocals on the four main tracks, we decided to turn that short recording into a closing track. Lyrically, the song is an apology letter written for the giant rat I had to extract from my apartment with a shovel. I hope he’s doing well.
For anyone curious how Rolling Stop fits into the broader musical fabric of St. John’s, the third episode of Barely There TV offers a window into Gallery’s place within the local scene.
Directed by Owen Finn, the episode features a short interview and live footage of the band alongside other homegrown acts like BreadClip, Mummers, Sick Puppy, and Steel Toe.
