After discovering Gang Gang Dance’s Saint Dymphna in the ‘bought-but-not-listened-to’ pile, the band have been filling my airwaves frequently since the early part of the year. Finally getting to the tune turned into an unexpected revelation, which in turn has led to hotly anticipating Eye Contact for the past few months.
As an album, Eye Contact is much more of the same really; a cosmic meld of electronica, dance, and world-music vibes. Led by vocalist Lizzie Bougatsos, Gang Gang Dance seem to have both simplified and intensified their sound on Eye Contact.
The opening cut, the rather awesome Glass Jar, is epic and wafty electronic music, ebbing slowly to a crescendo before busting out into fantastic beatifik rhythms, on an almost-rollercoaster ride, with massive peaks and troughs that, dare I say, becomes somewhat transcendent. It’s filled with colour and shape; marimbas and bold synths.
As Eye Contact evolves, Gang Gang will remind you more and more of a weird collection of artists, from No Zu to Cocteau Twins, The Slits to Rat VS Possum. The single Mindkilla is the only track you might expect to hear radio-side; playful, yet dangerously poised with a near-frantic beat, while much of the rest of Eye Contact is, well, weirder. The abstract vocals twist with oblong beats and world-music rhythms, accompanied by resonant bass notes and drench synth throughout.
It’s easy to recommend Eye Contact, if only for its party vibes and spiked-punch pop, but truth be told, Saint Dymphna is I believe, golden.
