Gengahr’s 'A Dream Outside' reissue is pressed exclusively on transparent orange vinyl as part of Transgressive’s 20th-anniversary celebrations, limited to 500 copies.
On the surface, the hazy indie that this North London four-piece command seems a million miles from anything that might prompt sleepless nights, but it’s the slowly creeping scares that leave the deepest impression. Through their smog and psych, frontman Felix Bushe’s lyricism draws upon the darkest corners of both the supernatural and the more grounded. Breakthrough track ‘Fill My Gums With Blood’, for example, is a tale of “a little boy vampire who falls for a girl” whilst ‘Powder’’s instrumentation melts around a wistful ponderingon death.
“The fantastical side of the world is more exciting to me than the mundane,” he explains. He cites early exposure to Lou Reed and David Bowie and their respective constructions of alternate worlds within their lyrics as a huge turning point - “that was the point that I realised there was more than just writing about smoking cigarettes and drinking beers,” he smiles. David Lynch and Terry Gilliam are also confessed as influences on their cinematic take on indie pop.Those musical backdrops are building a legacy of their own too, with guitarist John Victor already being framed alongside greats of the instrument like Jonny Greenwood and Graham Coxon. Indeed, it was John who solidified these school-friends’ ambition with his effortless,virtuoso guitar-work, though it was perhaps more accidental a pairing than it might seem. John studied jazz bass at university, and only metthe rest of the band when playing bass in function bands – his guitar technique is entirely self-taught. With NME declaring his on-stagephysique “octopus-like”, there’s clearly something of that aforementioned otherworldliness seeping into the members themselves, as well as their effortless talents.
On the surface, the hazy indie that this North London four-piece command seems a million miles from anything that might prompt sleepless nights, but it’s the slowly creeping scares that leave the deepest impression. Through their smog and psych, frontman Felix Bushe’s lyricism draws upon the darkest corners of both the supernatural and the more grounded. Breakthrough track ‘Fill My Gums With Blood’, for example, is a tale of “a little boy vampire who falls for a girl” whilst ‘Powder’’s instrumentation melts around a wistful ponderingon death.
“The fantastical side of the world is more exciting to me than the mundane,” he explains. He cites early exposure to Lou Reed and David Bowie and their respective constructions of alternate worlds within their lyrics as a huge turning point - “that was the point that I realised there was more than just writing about smoking cigarettes and drinking beers,” he smiles. David Lynch and Terry Gilliam are also confessed as influences on their cinematic take on indie pop.Those musical backdrops are building a legacy of their own too, with guitarist John Victor already being framed alongside greats of the instrument like Jonny Greenwood and Graham Coxon. Indeed, it was John who solidified these school-friends’ ambition with his effortless,virtuoso guitar-work, though it was perhaps more accidental a pairing than it might seem. John studied jazz bass at university, and only metthe rest of the band when playing bass in function bands – his guitar technique is entirely self-taught. With NME declaring his on-stagephysique “octopus-like”, there’s clearly something of that aforementioned otherworldliness seeping into the members themselves, as well as their effortless talents.
TRACK LISTING
1. Dizzy Ghosts
2. She's A Witch
3. Heroine
4. Bathed In Light
5. Where I Lie
6. Dark Star
7. Embers
8. Powder
9. Fill My Gums With Blood
10. Lonely As A Shark
11. Trampoline