Rating: NNN
GusGus’s first release on picky German tastemaker label Kompakt gets their relationship off to a rocky start. Initially set for July release – likely in hopes that its expansive electronic style could be the soundtrack to outdoor summer beat festivals – the album instead just dropped now.
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Kompakt probably made the right move, as this isn’t a summer jam. The Reykjavík natives’ seventh studio album is moody and minimal, with slow-building beats, like on On The Job, in which Daníel Agúst intermittently tells us it’s 24/7 over a plodding groove. Take Me Baby pushes the record’s velocity level with a harder techno sound, while Thin Ice is a smouldering Depeche Mode synth pop tribute that Agúst pulls off honourably.
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