Jagged, kinetic, energetic, cathartic – whichever word/s you pick to describe Gut Health, it’s all about that bass; far from lazy, those low-end melodies always rise spectacularly to the top.
Myka Wallace’s deft drumming has bounce, which makes Gut Health super danceable. And Angus Fletcher’s whiplash-crisp percussive flourishes – triangle, Devo-esque cracks, controlled cymbal crashes – also pop. Guitar arrives in bursts rather than repetitive riffs throughout.
Oh, and then there’s magnetic vocalist Athina Uh Oh, of course. Inspired by Ludus singer Linder Sterling’s wild vocal choices, Athina adds bucketloads of charisma and cuteness to this sextet’s bass-driven sonic chaos.
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During Memory Foam, her squeaky vocalisation somehow even manages to conjure the titular material’s texture! The exact opposite of dull, Gut Health’s raison d’etre is basically outlined in song two, The Recipe: “There’s no rule book/ It’s scripture.”
Gut Health stands for and cares about stuff as well. See: the title track, described by Athina as a “condemnation of contemporary so-called Australia, how it is fabricated and capitalistic, and how its real owners are Indigenous people”.
Athina formed Gut Health alongside her partner, bass whiz Adam Markmann, in an inner-Melbourne sharehouse during peak lockdown, before recruiting players from a hotchpotch of genre backgrounds: jazz, improv, hip hop, R&B, shoegaze, psychedelic, soul, folk, brash punk et al.
We’re told the unhinged sax tsunami that gushes over Stiletto’s outro was created by overlaying three improv takes – the only three recorded by Yang Chen, this band’s saxophonist of choice/secret weapon.
Yep, Gut Health is SO ready for their close-up.
LABEL: HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS/AWAL
RELEASE: OUT NOW
