CD Reviews

Gus Gus

Forever | Groove

By MICHAEL FREEDBERG | May 22, 2007

3.0 Stars

Gus Gus

This Iceland outfit’s fifth album says electronic club music — the kind created by DJs, not rock bands. Here the DJ is “President Bongo,” the diva voice belongs to “Earth,” and the added sounds (including baritone vocals) are input by Biggi Veira. The result is described as “techno soul,” but though techno could apply to six-to-nine-minute tracks that, for the most part, offer plenty of buzzsaw noise in the middle registers and only a scanty beat, soul — with the exception of the deep-house track “Moss” and its smoky-voiced, rapturous vocal — this isn’t. Soul suggests serious issues sung with intensity; here the melodies feel breezy, the soprano vocals light and full of fun. There are songs about this or that aspect of boy-meets-girl but there’s little drama; instead, boy and girl talk around each other, imagine holding each other, play with the idea as the music keeps the action moving along instead of stopping for a decision. Still, the music has enough variety to direct dancers toward several possibilities, all of them imaginatively phrased, from the funky electro-house of “Porn” and the tech-house “Demo 54” and “Mallflowers” to the rock-like “If You Don’t Jump (You’re English)” and the title track.

Related: Gus Gus | 24-7, Solid gold, Boston music news: April 25, 2008, More

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ARTICLES BY MICHAEL FREEDBERG

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