EP Review: male//gaze – Too Late Now (Self Released)

Pacific Northwest extreme pop outfit male//gaze are set to release their new EP, ‘Too Late Now’ on November 28th, 2025. The record is a cathartic exploration of memory, loss, and self-acceptance.

Downright indescribable at times, but wondrously so, male//gaze create music that stays with you. Music with heart and soul, music with meaning, and music that is as infectious as it is touching.

Reaching right into the soul from the start, Falling is such a pretty opening track. The soft and smooth singing alongside powerful piano melody is lovely, but the expansion into soaring gaze-infused dramatics is what really makes it special. This, the experimental elements and how male//gaze transform pop and rock, is what keeps me coming back to tracks like Get Well over and over again, and I believe you will too.

Especially as this is a brash showcase of shoegaze blended with pop melodies and post-hardcore intensity. I love it, and still (I called it as such upon release in September) think it’s one of the best songs of the year.

Beautiful music, but also music that challenges. The more eclectic side of the band steps up with the daringly disconcerting Soft & Quiet A track filled with pulsating effects, flareups of raw intensity, strained melodies, and haunting vocals. Whereas Slaymaxxing is a short slice of dynamic mania with the EPs wildest vocals on display.

Every single track has something special about it, but in the case of something like Speak (For Me), it’s just the track as a whole. A radiant showcase of emotion displayed by slightly off-kilter melody, mournful vocals, and layers upon layers of gaze-infused power. It is an absolute stunner of a track, with an ending that had my jaw hitting the floor, and a very tough thing to follow.

Happily, Returning keeps things varied as the energy increases, the melody becomes more discombobulated, the rawness really begins to seep in again, and the chorus’ catchy qualities become evident very quickly. It’s the cherry on top, that much is for sure.

I love it. I went from not really knowing who male//gaze were to hungrily consuming everything they have to offer just on the strength of this release alone. What a band, and what an EP.

male//gaze – Too Late Now Track Listing:

1. Falling
2. Get Well
3. Soft & Quiet
4. Slaymaxxing
5. Speak (For Me)
6. Returning

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