A review of the new record from Gustaf
I’m so glad that a friend at a little watering hole and pizza joint in Seattle, called Big Mario’s, once uttered the question, “Have you heard of Gustaf? I think you’d like them”. I believe I responded with, “I don’t listen to a lot of Russian bands, but I’m up for anything new.” This was 2021 and my pal was referring to the Brookyln based group who had recently dropped their debut album called Audio Drag for Ego Slobs. I was enamored by what I heard as I slipped on some headphones and listened the electronic-dance-punk sounds of this creative grouping of musicians. The lyrics were sarcastically humorous, and the thumping drumbeats made my brain bounce in rhythm with my fingers and toes that tapped to every note. This band would be a new favorite and I would tell anyone who would listen, to seek out these amazingly talented performers, and buy their record.
So, here we are in 2024 and I heard them on the radio for the first time ever and I was like a proud parent when Starting and Staring popped off over the airwaves of 91.1 WNXP in Nashville while I scuddled to work at 6am. Thank you to the on-air personality, Celia, for playing this single and letting me know that Gustav had a new album out. Big shout out to these independently run radio stations that run throughout the country and stay alive with “listener powered radio”. I was a KEXP subscriber in Seattle and was so exalted to find this format of radio existed in Tennessee too. No programming or forced playlists by corporate controlled sponsors or a “what’s popular” feel. Just good music played by good people.
I know I am a little late on an album review for a disc that came out in April, but album reviews have never really been my thing. I don’t really KNOW music in the way that a musician might break down an album and so I have always felt a little timid on this arena. This album is just too great not to scribe about, and so here it is, a review of Package Pt. 2 by Gustaf.
The sound of lead singer, Lydia Gammill, is like the voice I hear inside my head that narrates my dreams. The music is guiding and asking questions and trying to get answers but not quite finding them. It has an existentialistic quality to it, but those deep-rooted thoughts are sometime met with a flippant answer that’s more whimsical than critical. It happens all the time in my noggin, where I am questioning my very existence of this globe and then I’m like, well, I don’t know, maybe I’ll drink a beer and watch Stepbrothers, again.
Gammill is joined on this record by percussionist Tarra Thiessen, drummer Melissa Lucciola, bassist Tine Hill, and guitarist Vram Kherlopian. I’ve heard the band referred to as alternative, minimal punk, art rock, but the bottom line is they are just a fantastically rocking ensemble. There are certainly hints of The B-52’s, Talking Heads, and DEVO translated into their sound and this record.
It all starts with the track “Statue”, as Gammill kicks off lyrically with, “I project my way to the center of the stage/ I project my way through the center of the stage”, perhaps contemplating her every night’s routine on tour. She continues later with “And Statues- become me! / I’ll bend to your form/ Oh Statues! Come surround me!”. It’s a beautifully articulated preamble, possibly about being a lead singer and a band and figuring out your space not only on stage, but in life. I hate to guess as to the intent of a songwriter’s words even if they seem quite straightforward, but this is the feeling I get, so I think in that way, my assumptions are fair. What is obvious, is the punching melody which is driven by Lucciola’s pulsing drums and Kherlopian’s jolting and poignant guitar riff.
Theissen also lends some slowed down and humorous backing vocals to both “Close” and “I Won” that become that voice inside your brain’s perception of reality. Those inner voices seem to be a theme to this release. Those thoughts that we cannot get rid of or maybe don’t want to get rid of because they dictate our sanity.
“Starting and Staring” is the single off Package Pt.2, and rightfully so. The hook is infectious with the repetitious utterance of the title, and the recantation of the suggestion to “Stay on my eyes…” forces you to engage with the singer and her commands. The riffs and hooks and cadence that come with this album are what make these songs so listenable and fun. Not only do you want to question what it all means, but you want to dance to it as well. The songs “Weighing Me Down” and “End of the Year” have those heavier thought provoking and poetic lines. “Weighing Me Down” has a chorus of “I wanted an out/ Now it’s weighing me down/ You gave me my out/ Now it’s wearing me down”. It’s seeming that sometimes we ask the universe to put us in a place where we would be happier and when we get there, we examine our decision and wonder whether we’d be better off back where we started.
In “End of the Year”, the albums last track, the suggestion of life passing us forward without a response of our purpose is sung by Gammill, “I don’t lose time, it just moves forward/ And I don’t lose my sight, it just stops working”. Despite this deeper and sometimes disheartening prose the music is upbeat and fun, and I think that is the meaning of it all. You can reflect in meditation, and you can keep trying to wrap everything up in a neat little package, but you may burn yourself out chasing that conclusion. Wouldn’t you rather dance?
I am not going to give this album a physical rating, because I never really found that fair, and I don’t want to be the YELP of music. I will just suggest that you buy their album at some independently own record shops and go to one of their shows. Hopefully, at this point you can get tickets through the venue rather than obtaining them from those jerks at Ticketmaster. Go support live music!
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