#FeatureFriday No Need To Be Lonely by gladie

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For anyone thinking hook-filled, roughly-sung, emotional alt rock is only for the young, Philadelphia band Gladie is here to prove that maturity can be punk as hell.

On No Need to Be Lonely, the duo plays loud, energetic songs about growing older, questioning what you’ve learned and reaching for hard-won hope when life seems disappointing at best. This is music that knows what it’s doing, but isn’t here to brag about it.

The lyrics explore the balance between optimism and doubt, inspiration and disappointment. On the track “I Will If You Will” the repeating chorus makes a pledge, and asks a question:

“It’s a hard love, I will if you will
I trace the lines in your face for the truth
Can we lay here forever?
Anything is possible
I wish, I wish, I wish that we both knew
Did we take it for granted?”

These songs aren’t about new love; they’re about what comes after. The lead singer’s rough alto exudes frustration and grief, but also a steely resolve. There are plenty of reasons to despair, but all we can do is push forward.

The album concludes with the repeated lyric, “Nostalgia’s just fool’s gold,” as though to underline the point. The only way through is through. The only way to find out what happens is to keep living.

The title’s statement There’s No Need to Be Lonely may be true, but this album understands that you might just be lonely anyway. Maybe that’s how life goes, and maybe it’s still ok.

E.A.

Gladie’s ‘No Need to be Lonely’ sets the tone straight away with opening track ‘Push me Down’ which goes straight for the throat with a serving of a rather poppy variety of Punk. I even get a somewhat Folky vibe as well in no small part due to vocalist Augusta Koch ’ vocal delivery which is delivered with this lovely gritty snarl that definitely hammers down the Punk vibes further as well.

I especially appreciate the relatable lyrics on offer here that refuse to be drenched in vague euphemisms focusing more on a straightforward storytelling style. But despite opting to tell it straight you cannot deny that the lyrics have a certain sense of poetry to them regardless. Showing that straightforward doesn’t necessarily mean blunt or unsophisticated.

And those songwriting chops couldn’t be better represented than by what is for me the standout track on here ‘I Will if you Will’ which to me is reminiscent of Suzanne Vega by way of Brody Dalle.

Eveyweveydevey

The first thing to hit you with Gladie’s, ‘No Need to be Lonely is Augusta Koch’s vocals, burnt, squeaks, sand paper rasp. Sitting somewhere between Suzi Quatro, Joan Jett and Courtney Love their delivery is the star, even when it comes from under the note and misses ever so slightly. Raw emotion extended with brute force and total character. A voice to fall in love with, it’s cadence born to sell music like this.

The music itself has a late 80s, early 90s aesthetic. Living in the land where the Pixies and The Replacements dwell in their subterranean rehearsal rooms. It has the drive of classic Cracker and the story telling of  Suzanne Vega.

The arrangements are clever, they allow Augusta to just do what they do. But they have power and drive. Drums and Bass lock in tight while the guitar veers between classic straight rock and angular Joey Santiago style guitar.

I like this quite a lot. You should too.

Untidy Music

I have to admit, this week’s album took it’s time to fully grow on me. Gladie is a band that plays a style of music (emo Pop Punk) that I have heard hundreds of times, from nearly as many different bands, so my attention started to drift away from it. Don’t get me wrong: it’s good music! The guitars are crunchy, the bass bouncy and steady, and the drums as precise as they can be while still having a playful character. The energy is always at the right level that the mood of a particular song requires, there are hooks at every bend of the tracks, and the production has this certain “garage band” quality; not too clean, not too gritty. My specific issue is simply that I spent a lot of time in music venues, at a time when this kind of music was starting to gain mass-popularity.

So I went looking for the parts that make this stand out. There’s the lyrics, for one, which speak of feelings of insecurity, of personal growth and of vulnerability. They are written in an extremely conversational style, making them feel direct, honest and non-pretentious. For music that is supposed to make the audience relate to its meaning, that is not an unimportant part that not all bands get as right as Gladie does.

The biggest asset that the band has, however, is vocalist Augusta Koch. Her voice always sounds like it is coming to the point of breaking, but there is power behind it. The tone she hits feels fragile and often a little off, yet she is perfectly able to deliver small emotive details in her vocal performance, making each word she sings feel completely natural. And this is something many other vocalists struggle to achieve to this degree.

Overall, I enjoyed this album. It took me a little bit to get over myself and my preconceived notions, but that is not the fault of the band. The performances are where they need to be, the production is absolutely right for the style, the songs are catchy as hell, and both the lyrics and the vocals are excellent. Which is a long way to say: it’s a good album by a good band.

Florgoth

Updated: August 14, 2026 — 4:59 am

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