It's been a year-and-a-half since GusGus released GusGus vs. T-World, a
record comprised of pre-GusGus work, and three years since their last new
release This Is Normal. In the interim, the group shed two-thirds of its
members and actually become a band, rather than a collective or project as
it was originally began by nine Icelandic artists. This sloughing off of the
old also brings in a new singer and an eschewing of their more poppy efforts
in favor of a strong 80s synth influence more organic than the campy
computerized monotony of artists like Felix da Housecat and Miss Kittin and
the Hacker.
They've replaced three vocalists with just one—dubbed Earth—and the change
isn't at first overwhelming. But soon, Earth's soulful vocals—while capable
and fitting in well with GusGus' shiny happy disco—do nothing to
differentiate the band from so many other light electronica outfits like
Morcheeba and Zero 7. Combined with the tendency away to shy away from
traditional song structure toward meandering electronica, the effect is
numbing. Vocals are treated like samples, looped over and over again, but
they're not strong enough to warrant the recycling. Only the title track
does this repetition justice; with swirly, space beats enveloping the
repeated, accented refrain of "Attention," it calls up a freak hybrid of
Miss Kittin and a icily attractive German stewardess.
Other tracks don't fare so well. "I.I.E." devolves into typical
drum-and-bass, something you'd hear on any no-brand Ibiza compilation—not
something you'd expect to hear from GusGus, a band that previously had a
very defined sound. "Your Moves Are Mine" actually ventures back into
verse-chorus-verse territory with strong dark keyboards, but the falsetto
style of the song sounds like it's paining the singer.
On This Is Normal and their debut record Polydistortion, GusGus had a quirky
innocence in their pop-infused electronica that really set them apart.
Whether it was the chaotic influence of nine artists from different mediums
coming together musically or the alternation of cute, creepy and
skin-prickling beautiful that tends to infuse the few Icelandic artists that
find an audience in America, it's hard to say. But that personality has
disappeared from Attention, and it's sorely missed.
GusGus Attention
