choline Amplifies The Noise For A Much-Needed “Clean Slate”
It’s hard to imagine desiring a reset just nine days into the new year, but here we are. As the news becomes more distressing and depressing with every alert, the idea of a blank canvas seems pretty damn appropriate right about now. And while we all are hoping for a giant “restore to default settings” button to appear, we’ll have to settle for “Clean Slate,” the new single from shoegaze act choline, which arrives alongside a suitably curious video.
With raging layers of noise swirling around, “Clean Slate” manages to harness the festering chaos into a blissful melange that is both rejuvenating and reflective. Guitars lament and drums rage in a clouded pitch of frustrated confusion, feelings only amplified when a shrouded voice joins the mix like an otherworldly transmission. Yet despite all the musical fog, there’s true focus found in here, one that grounds and centers concentration with keen dexterity. Like a violent shake that finally brings about a moment of pure focus, it’s a reminder that drowning out the noise is not always the best option. We can’t just blindly bury our heads in the sand and wait for the turmoil to pass. Sometimes entering the storm is the best way to weather it… and eventually escape it.
The video mirrors the intense purple hue of the artwork on recent choline’s releases, using a blown-out filter that washes over scenes that are both jarring and inspiring. Framed as a visual collage suspended within an amethyst haze of purpose, it’s uncannily suited for this moment, one where so many disparate events are bound together by the noxious rise of oppressive control. Intimate moments, like innocent coastline treks, play out alongside communal moments such as celebratory fireworks and the passage of a star-strewn sky, reflecting how the assault comes in moments both big and small–grand-scale invasions and also individual infiltrations. The line between technological advancement and totalitarian overreach has dissolved, leaving every moment heavy with that burden. And yet, as the video and song ultimately draw out, the catalyst for change is found just as easily in any single moment.
choline is one of several outlets for the prolific Richmond musician Tony Gloom (aka Tony Nowotarski). Beyond this project, Gloom has been involved with acts like Slump, Shadow Age, Black Button, and RAIC, while also regularly releasing music under a range of aliases: Shattered Mirror (dark techno), Pale Throne (black metal), and most notably Petrified Entity (darkwave), many of them through the DIY label Infinite Mirror. “Clean Slate” appears on choline’s latest album, Unspool, released on January 1st, the sixth record issued under the shoegaze moniker in the last thirty days. In 2025 alone, Gloom released nearly fifty records, spanning full-lengths and EPs across choline, Pale Throne, and Petrified Entity, with the bulk of that output arriving under the latter name. Gloom shows no sign of slowing down in 2026, and since the news doesn’t seem inclined to either, now is the perfect time to dive in and let these polyglot sounds accompany the new year, whether as a source of comfort or an essential compass.
Watch the video for “Clean Slate” below and make sure to follow Tony Gloom’s projects on social media for the next round of releases: choline, Petrified Entity, and Pale Throne.
