Rob Fletcher writes from the driver’s seat, literally in this case. “Hells Gate” started as a moment of fear and fascination while he was hauling a Kenworth B-double past a feedlot out in New South Wales, and that image of driving away from something ominous carries straight through into the song. It’s the third track off his album Love Storm and has become the record’s breakout, pulling streams for the whole collection along with it, which tracks given how confidently it stands apart from a typical DIY release. Fletcher records everything himself out of Wonthaggi, with over 450 originals already sitting on his SoundCloud, and he cites Jeff Buckley and Icehouse as reference points for what he calls his own brand of Australiana alt rock.
The song is genuinely atmospheric, opening on a short, layered guitar sample with its pitch bent out of shape before the ping-pong delay kicks in and starts throwing the guitars from side to side. That spaciousness is what sells the “driving away from hell” concept; the mix has real depth. But the rhythm section is what actually holds the track together underneath all that atmosphere. The drum work, in particular, does a lot of quiet heavy lifting, giving the dreamy, delay-soaked guitars something solid to hang off of instead of letting the whole thing drift into vagueness. It’s the kind of playing that doesn’t call attention to itself but is clearly the reason the song has momentum rather than just mood.
For a home recording, “Hells Gate” doesn’t sound like it’s straining against its own limitations. Fletcher’s vocals sit comfortably inside the wash of guitars rather than fighting to cut through them, and the whole arrangement feels considered rather than accidental. Given the size of his back catalogue, there’s an obvious argument that Fletcher has simply had the reps to know what works by now, and “Hells Gate” plays like proof of that instinct paying off at exactly the right moment for this particular album.
