tibia thrash through party highs and lows on powerful debut “Two weeks of Gloria”

To me, there are two types of party-goers: the people that know when the party's over, and the people that can’t seem to let the party end. But what sounds painful and draining to some (partying for days at a time) is energizing and invigorating to others, and the most skilled can use the night’s energy to slingshot them through their days. tibia’s “Two weeks of Gloria” speaks to those who live for that constant stimulation, using brash vocals, thick drum patterns, and undeniable guitar riffs to create a sonic rendition of the overwhelm of a nonstop rave.

Swedish duo Elias Sahlin and Vide Willemark, both musicians in their own rights, are childhood best friends that wanted a creative endeavour to keep them close. Thus came tibia, a project wholly rooted in their friendship and the music they loved growing up (Nirvana, MGMT, The Sugarcubes). In a whirlwind of creative energy, the pair recorded more than an album’s worth of material in their Stockholm high school basement on a barebones set up, solidifying their blown out, gripping sound. “Two weeks of Gloria” was the first of those archives to emerge.

Setting off immediately with a kick drum, the track propels listeners into the messy, chaotic, at times overwhelming world of the song. The vocals are distorted and fuzzy, with high and low octaves that bounce off each other to build intensity (in the second verse, the high octave is brought up to a shout, creating even more tension). The lyrics are almost rushed, with one line going right into the next like a run-on sentence. Sahlin and Willemark draw out the last words of every few lines (“I don’t knowwwwww,” “Plans to do better yeahhhhhh,” “What do you want me to sayyyyyy?”) adding to the hazy and disorienting picture of drunk voices flailing all around you.

“Two weeks of Gloria” leans into the ‘work hard play hard’ ethos, with the lyrics in the first verse showing a deeper look into the never-ending partying cycle that seems to take place in two week chunks. First, there are two weeks of party, then two weeks of resting, then two weeks of trying (to not party?), then back to two weeks of partying all over again. The chorus feels defiant, with the hook “Rise up Gloria” evoking spiritual imagery combined with the echoed and delayed vocals. The guitar riff that pushes through the vocals is unexpectedly moving, affective and giving off 2000s rock vibes akin to early Foo Fighters, showing clear influence from the music the duo grew up on. The bridge pares back sonically with synth-like guitar patterns that rumble in the background, building intensity before completely exploding into a cathartic release of energy for the last chorus.

By the end of the song, it’s not entirely clear whether the cycle ends or repeats itself all over again. tibia says, at its core, the song is about “a lifestyle where you keep making mistakes but also kind of deal with them. A really late night can also be seen as a rise-and-grind kind of morning if you just keep going, you know. We both tend to sweep through periods that can seem a bit rough from the outside, but one man's trash is another man's heaven.”