Pure Gluttony was the Brutus VIII record that Jackson Katz always had in his head. Darkwave and Electroclash. Harsh — that goes without saying — but also vulnerable, funny. Katz writes songs about things he fears most, and finds a way to satirize them. On Pure Gluttony, he takes stock of his fears and defamiliarizes them. Puts them behind a strobing synth, the crash of the drums, a vocal pitch-shifted into oblivion.

Before Pure Gluttony, there were a handful of prior releases. Two full lengths — one released when Katz was still functionally a teenager, the other released in 2021. He cut his chops as a touring drummer, most notably for Nick Rattigan’s Current Joys. He lived in Los Angeles, then moved to New York to hone his craft. He tightened Brutus VIII live performances, becoming an absolutely remarkable presence on stage. Pure Gluttony is the distillation of hard work. It captures what is so indelible about Katz’s live set. That feeling both of fear and also being tenderly trolled by someone who views performance and persona as a carefully orchestrated craft.