New Yorker band Gang Gang Dance have been one of the odder acts of the past decade. Presented as a kind of hippie multimedia collective, they were among the earliest non-UK adopters of the sonics of grime and dubstep, which they wove in alongside global music influences, jam band psychedelia and more into an extremely rich and sometimes slightly confusing stew.
They have been signed to some of the biggest left field labels (WARP, 4AD), worked with filmmaker Harmony Korine, been “innocently” plagiarised by the ghastly Florence & The Machine, had many moments of brilliance, but seemingly struggled to translate the pagan hypnosis of their live shows into a coherent recorded statement.
It's maybe not surprising, then, that for his first solo record founder Brian DeGraw (as bEEdEEgEE) has gone for something a little more settled in its approach. This album was recorded in rural isolation in DeGraw's home studio in Woodstock, and is a gentle affair, built on a framework of elegant electropop and millenial R&B, and featuring guests who also emerged in the early-2000s world of electronic indie – Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip, Lovefoxxx of the sadly underrated CSS.
That's not to say it's particularly conventional though: around its archly funky rhythms are tightly folded so many fine layers of psychedelic detail that you can swear your vision is going funny at moments. This too is a long way from the ragged rituals of GGD's shows, but it's certainly coherent, and its gentleness is deceptive: as an intense, intriguing personal statement it's powerful.
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