Gus Englehorn doesn’t approach his music as a gentle stroll through the woods but rather as a twisted mental exercise - a psychological thriller wrapped inside an obscure Jean Cocteau movie wrapped inside a children’s puppet show. His repertoire resembles an educational artwork on how to learn to create a work of art … presented as a cryptogram. With his wife, Estée Preda, as his close artistic collaborator, his two previous albums, Death & Transfiguration and Dungeon Master, serve as poetic lessons. They both explore themes of confronting mortality, navigating disorienting illusions of wisdom, enduring the mood swings that come alongside them, the death of your old self and the transfiguration into the new, expressing the confusion between the moment of innocence and the loss of it. Guided by his subconscious, some of these jangle pop-rock songs are mysteries even to him. But the beauty of creativity lies in its ability to transform any dilemma into yet another creative outlet.
Heavily inspired by the indie, low-budget Montreal band The Unicorns, the music and outsider art of Daniel Johnston, and the spontaneity of his autistic younger brother Max, Gus’s devotion to keeping things DIY, lo-fi, genuine, educational and playful comes as no surprise. Alongside the clever artistic references that suggest a sharp creative mind—ranging from David Lynch to Sir John Everett Millais, Alfred Hitchcock and Hans Richter—a hint of marginal madness seeps through the cracks of his epic stories, like skeletons hidden in a closet. This touch of eccentricity makes his Dylan-esque voice all the more strangely lovable.
Shot by Estée Prada, the video of “Metal Detector” embraces the song’s nonsensical stream of consciousness, with randomness acting as a mysterious collaborator. A drunken friend's nocturnal conversation with a talking bush; jangly psychedelic guitars channeling garage hero Ty Segall; someone struggling to play metal in a garage; an infernal racket; a skateboard; and a landfill. Five, four, three, two, one, one, zero… Chaos !
Mixed by Paul Leary (Butthole Surfers), Gus’s new album "The Hornbook" will be launched on February 6 during Taverne Tour at L’Escogriffe. Gus Englehorn will also play in Austin, Texas during the renowned SXSW.
Album cover by Angela Dalinger