Gengahr |
Where Wildness Grows |
Gengahr — Where Wildness Grows (9 Mar 2018)★★ “A record that places Gengahr in a realm of truly special British bands.” — Dork
★★ “Second flowering from darkly flamboyant Londoners.” — Mojo
★★ “Infectious” — DIY
EDITORS’ NOTES
★★ Euphoric psychedelic rock refocuses the soul~searching Londoners.Location: London, UK
Genre: Indie Rock, Psychedelic Rock
Album release: 9 Mar 2018
Record Label: Transgressive Records Ltd / [PIAS]
Duration: 48:50
Tracks:
01. Before Sunrise 3:57
02. Mallory 3:20
03. Is This How You Love 3:10
04. I’ll Be Waiting 3:48
05. Where Wildness Grows 4:58
06. Blind Truth 3:55
07. Carrion 4:33
08. Burning Air 3:12
09. Left In Space 3:33
10. Pull Over (Now) 4:21
11. Rising Tides 5:02
12. Whole Again 5:01
℗ 2018 Gengahr under exclusive license to Transgressive Records Ltd / [PIAS]By Katie Pilbeam / 05 MARCH 2018, 08:30 GMT / Score: 8
★★ Gengahr have a lot to prove, and prove it, on album two. / ALBUM OF THE WEEK
★★ Gengahr’s second album is a colourful and delicate offering that has slowly blossomed from the cracks, the edges and the rough; from Where Wildness Grows.
★★ This is an album that feels like a deep inhale and an even longer exhale, a beautiful return that sees the band feeling more comfortable in their own skin than ever before.
★★ Yet this progression didn’t come so easily. True to its name, the ‘difficult second album’ saw the band struggle to create a body of work that would meet all their ambitions and fully capture what ‘Gengahr’ meant to them. Out of this grey, rocky time finally emerged a record of textures, a thoughtful patchwork that balances the breezy with the electric, and explores positivity and introspectiveness.
★★ Lead singles “Carrion”, “Mallory” and “Before Sunrise” give an accurate taste for the rest of the LP, with the urgency and depth of the former and the sunny, carefree tones of the latter making them clear standouts.
★★ The first half of Where Wildness Grows is packed with panoramic indie~psych rock toned to perfection. “Is This How You Love” showcases Gengahr’s trademark love for melody and distortion and is followed by another highlight in the shape of “I’ll Be Waiting”. The track evokes choppy early Maccabees~esque guitars, sealed with the unmistakable sound of frontman Felix Bushe’s vocals lamenting lost love: “Still in love with you, that’s alright I’ll be waiting / Nothing I won’t do’.” This tenderness and honesty continues throughout, whether lyrically on “Blind Truth” or in the atmosphere of “Left in Space”. Artistic in every sense, each track adds a splodge of paint or a sweeping stroke to the blank Where Wildness Grows canvas.
★★ Despite coming back refreshed, one thing is for certain; Gengahr haven’t lost the soluble quality of their sound, every intricacy has the ability to melt right in. Elegant and artful to its core, Where Wildness Grows is an impressive step forward from a band who seemingly have more to prove to themselves than anyone else.
★★ https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/
Label: http://www.transgressiverecords.com/★★ “Burning Air is a song that screams for integrity. Spits at social climbing, snarls at fairness and champions authenticity and hard work. Sarcastic and truthful in equal measure, it aims to smash through the glass ceiling above us all and cover us in the shard of other peoples insincerity.”
★★ “Where Wildness Grows is an attempt to figure out what it is that makes us get out of bed in the morning. Where do we find the passion to create the lives we want for ourselves? And with these great expectations and ambitions, how do we cope when things don’t go to plan? I’m still not sure...”
★★ “Before Sunrise is a song that celebrates the relief and simplicity one can find lost in the night. A clarity and single mindedness that doesn’t exist in day to day life. A beautiful weightlessness that gradually dissolves as the sun comes up.”
★★ The video for that song features The Anfa Riders, shot in their home town of Casablanca, by fast~rising director Jamie Whitby. The gang have found their own take on the #bikelife movement with the help of a national glut of cheap import mopeds. ★★ Referring to themselves as ‘stunters’, they gather in huge groups on the outskirts of the city and away from the authorities who confiscate their bikes on sight. This video is a snapshot of their universe, a celebration of the sense of freedom and weightlessness that we seem to lose as we get older, found in a corner of the world where you might not think to look.
About Gengahr
★★ London~based alternative rock quartet Gengahr was formed by friends studying at the Stoke Newington School in Hackney. Comprising bassist Hugh Schulte, drummer Danny Ward, and guitarists Felix Bushe and John Victor, the group was initially called RES, but switched to Gengahr when the bandmembers discovered another group already had the same name. In 2014, Gengahr recorded a demo that circulated widely, and the band quickly caught the ears of fans, promoters, and radio programmers. Their debut album, A Dream Outside, surfaced in 2015 via Transgressive Records and gathered rave reviews nearly across the board for its dark take on dreamy shoegaze and updated approach to British~bred indie rock. The band promoted the record on a nationwide and European tour before getting to work on their sophomore effort. The record — titled Where Wilderness Grows — arrived in late 2017. ~ Fred Thomas_____________________________________________________________
Gengahr |
Where Wildness Grows |
Gengahr — Where Wildness Grows (9 Mar 2018)★★ “A record that places Gengahr in a realm of truly special British bands.” — Dork
★★ “Second flowering from darkly flamboyant Londoners.” — Mojo
★★ “Infectious” — DIY
EDITORS’ NOTES
★★ Euphoric psychedelic rock refocuses the soul~searching Londoners.Location: London, UK
Genre: Indie Rock, Psychedelic Rock
Album release: 9 Mar 2018
Record Label: Transgressive Records Ltd / [PIAS]
Duration: 48:50
Tracks:
01. Before Sunrise 3:57
02. Mallory 3:20
03. Is This How You Love 3:10
04. I’ll Be Waiting 3:48
05. Where Wildness Grows 4:58
06. Blind Truth 3:55
07. Carrion 4:33
08. Burning Air 3:12
09. Left In Space 3:33
10. Pull Over (Now) 4:21
11. Rising Tides 5:02
12. Whole Again 5:01
℗ 2018 Gengahr under exclusive license to Transgressive Records Ltd / [PIAS]By Katie Pilbeam / 05 MARCH 2018, 08:30 GMT / Score: 8
★★ Gengahr have a lot to prove, and prove it, on album two. / ALBUM OF THE WEEK
★★ Gengahr’s second album is a colourful and delicate offering that has slowly blossomed from the cracks, the edges and the rough; from Where Wildness Grows.
★★ This is an album that feels like a deep inhale and an even longer exhale, a beautiful return that sees the band feeling more comfortable in their own skin than ever before.
★★ Yet this progression didn’t come so easily. True to its name, the ‘difficult second album’ saw the band struggle to create a body of work that would meet all their ambitions and fully capture what ‘Gengahr’ meant to them. Out of this grey, rocky time finally emerged a record of textures, a thoughtful patchwork that balances the breezy with the electric, and explores positivity and introspectiveness.
★★ Lead singles “Carrion”, “Mallory” and “Before Sunrise” give an accurate taste for the rest of the LP, with the urgency and depth of the former and the sunny, carefree tones of the latter making them clear standouts.
★★ The first half of Where Wildness Grows is packed with panoramic indie~psych rock toned to perfection. “Is This How You Love” showcases Gengahr’s trademark love for melody and distortion and is followed by another highlight in the shape of “I’ll Be Waiting”. The track evokes choppy early Maccabees~esque guitars, sealed with the unmistakable sound of frontman Felix Bushe’s vocals lamenting lost love: “Still in love with you, that’s alright I’ll be waiting / Nothing I won’t do’.” This tenderness and honesty continues throughout, whether lyrically on “Blind Truth” or in the atmosphere of “Left in Space”. Artistic in every sense, each track adds a splodge of paint or a sweeping stroke to the blank Where Wildness Grows canvas.
★★ Despite coming back refreshed, one thing is for certain; Gengahr haven’t lost the soluble quality of their sound, every intricacy has the ability to melt right in. Elegant and artful to its core, Where Wildness Grows is an impressive step forward from a band who seemingly have more to prove to themselves than anyone else.
★★ https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/
Label: http://www.transgressiverecords.com/★★ “Burning Air is a song that screams for integrity. Spits at social climbing, snarls at fairness and champions authenticity and hard work. Sarcastic and truthful in equal measure, it aims to smash through the glass ceiling above us all and cover us in the shard of other peoples insincerity.”
★★ “Where Wildness Grows is an attempt to figure out what it is that makes us get out of bed in the morning. Where do we find the passion to create the lives we want for ourselves? And with these great expectations and ambitions, how do we cope when things don’t go to plan? I’m still not sure...”
★★ “Before Sunrise is a song that celebrates the relief and simplicity one can find lost in the night. A clarity and single mindedness that doesn’t exist in day to day life. A beautiful weightlessness that gradually dissolves as the sun comes up.”
★★ The video for that song features The Anfa Riders, shot in their home town of Casablanca, by fast~rising director Jamie Whitby. The gang have found their own take on the #bikelife movement with the help of a national glut of cheap import mopeds. ★★ Referring to themselves as ‘stunters’, they gather in huge groups on the outskirts of the city and away from the authorities who confiscate their bikes on sight. This video is a snapshot of their universe, a celebration of the sense of freedom and weightlessness that we seem to lose as we get older, found in a corner of the world where you might not think to look.
About Gengahr
★★ London~based alternative rock quartet Gengahr was formed by friends studying at the Stoke Newington School in Hackney. Comprising bassist Hugh Schulte, drummer Danny Ward, and guitarists Felix Bushe and John Victor, the group was initially called RES, but switched to Gengahr when the bandmembers discovered another group already had the same name. In 2014, Gengahr recorded a demo that circulated widely, and the band quickly caught the ears of fans, promoters, and radio programmers. Their debut album, A Dream Outside, surfaced in 2015 via Transgressive Records and gathered rave reviews nearly across the board for its dark take on dreamy shoegaze and updated approach to British~bred indie rock. The band promoted the record on a nationwide and European tour before getting to work on their sophomore effort. The record — titled Where Wilderness Grows — arrived in late 2017. ~ Fred Thomas_____________________________________________________________