A year ago, Gumshen’s track “Bell Ringer” alerted me to the Seattle-based group’s eclectic reach; the seven-minute epic traversed everywhere from psych-rock in the vein of Pink Floyd to various reaches of synth-pop, from Depeche Mode’s dark emotive grasp to Chromeo’s hook-driven energy. And impressively enough, they managed to remain cohesive throughout, alternating between infectious verses and ambitious instrumental interludes. Enjoyably, their new material is quite similar, though with greater infectiousness and polish than before.
Released in April, Gumshen’s new album DigiBites is a representation of “what they want to do” — essentially, very fun and diverse tunes that align well with live shows featuring glowsticks and illuminated attire. The entire album can be streamed below, and I fully recommend it. One of my favorite tracks, and one that is nicely representative of Gumshen’s ceaselessly wide-eyed sound, is “Be Here and Now” — which begins with haunting key twinkles before quickly swerving into a funk-a-licious rocker with synth warbles and an anthemic vocal fit. Gumshen’s stylistic reach and cohesiveness continues to impress, and better than ever on DigiBites:
Killer song; sweet clashing of styles!
Glad to have found this blog.