April 29 street date. Before Montreal singer-songwriter Gus Englehorn was signed to Secret City Records he lived in a cabin in the woods and wrote "Dungeon Master", the cutest, heaviest, strangest rock 'n' roll record you will hear this year. Before he made the record he lived in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he fell in love at first sight with a woman from Québec - a girl named Esté Preda, a girl who plays drums like Moe Tucker on salvia. For almost all of Gus's life he dreamed of being a songwriter. If he couldn't be Dylan maybe he'd be Daniel Johnston - or Frank Black and The Pixies or maybe Darby Crash and The Germs. And when he finally emerged, he had found a sound that was dark and delightful, fun and demented, packed with dynamics and the chug of a hysterical guitar. "Dungeon Master", Englehorn's label debut, is an outsider opus that sparkles with Dada spirit - a playful juxtaposition of isolation, alienation and mildish OCD. Surprising, paranoid, studded with synths and strings, "Dungeon Master" is deeper than a cellar, blunter than a club - a shivering introduction to an artist who's finally arrived.
April 29 street date. Before Montreal singer-songwriter Gus Englehorn was signed to Secret City Records he lived in a cabin in the woods and wrote "Dungeon Master", the cutest, heaviest, strangest rock 'n' roll record you will hear this year. Before he made the record he lived in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he fell in love at first sight with a woman from Québec - a girl named Esté Preda, a girl who plays drums like Moe Tucker on salvia. For almost all of Gus's life he dreamed of being a songwriter. If he couldn't be Dylan maybe he'd be Daniel Johnston - or Frank Black and The Pixies or maybe Darby Crash and The Germs. And when he finally emerged, he had found a sound that was dark and delightful, fun and demented, packed with dynamics and the chug of a hysterical guitar. "Dungeon Master", Englehorn's label debut, is an outsider opus that sparkles with Dada spirit - a playful juxtaposition of isolation, alienation and mildish OCD. Surprising, paranoid, studded with synths and strings, "Dungeon Master" is deeper than a cellar, blunter than a club - a shivering introduction to an artist who's finally arrived.
January 31 street date. Gus Englehorn is ultimately a citizen of Planet Gus, an uncanny universe created through a big-bang collision between serene beauty and apocalyptic chaos, populated by folkloric heroes, creepy characters, and oversized insects alike. A critically acclaimed indie-rock singer-songwriter, he spent much of his life as a professional snowboarder, but always dreamed of writing songs. Accompanied by his wife Estée Preda, his key collaborator with whom he produces his albums and creates music videos, his approach is visceral, subconscious and much like his snowboarding career, risk taking and unapologetic. "The Hornbook" magically transmutes the entire history of 20th-century rock 'n' roll - 50s golden oldies, 60s garage spunk, 70s glam flamboyance, 80s indie transgression, 90s lo-fi weirdness - into an alien transmission from the future. Now, if you stayed awake during high-school history class, you might remember that a hornbook is an early-education tool for children dating back to the 15th century - a wooden paddle inscribed with the alphabet, numbers, and the odd Bible verse. "When I was writing these songs, it felt like I was making a children's book - every song was a little story", Gus Englehorn says of the title concept. "But it also felt like a little bit of a cipher for our whole world".
January 31 street date. Gus Englehorn is ultimately a citizen of Planet Gus, an uncanny universe created through a big-bang collision between serene beauty and apocalyptic chaos, populated by folkloric heroes, creepy characters, and oversized insects alike. A critically acclaimed indie-rock singer-songwriter, he spent much of his life as a professional snowboarder, but always dreamed of writing songs. Accompanied by his wife Estée Preda, his key collaborator with whom he produces his albums and creates music videos, his approach is visceral, subconscious and much like his snowboarding career, risk taking and unapologetic. "The Hornbook" magically transmutes the entire history of 20th-century rock 'n' roll - 50s golden oldies, 60s garage spunk, 70s glam flamboyance, 80s indie transgression, 90s lo-fi weirdness - into an alien transmission from the future. Now, if you stayed awake during high-school history class, you might remember that a hornbook is an early-education tool for children dating back to the 15th century - a wooden paddle inscribed with the alphabet, numbers, and the odd Bible verse. "When I was writing these songs, it felt like I was making a children's book - every song was a little story", Gus Englehorn says of the title concept. "But it also felt like a little bit of a cipher for our whole world".
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