Tag: Ganser You Must Be New Here EP

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays Ganser Releases a Cinematic and Sinister Visual for “Lucky”

Chicago-based post-punk outfit and JOVM mainstays Ganser can trace its origins back to when its founding members Nadia Garofalo (keys, vocals) and Alicia Gaines (bass, vocals) met in art school. Bonding over a shared love of The Residents, outsider communities and the work of John Waters and David Lynch, the duo developed a hands-on DIY craftsmanship that eventually carried over into their band — with the band, which also features Brian Cundiff (drums) and Charlie Landsman (guitar) sharing writing duties. closely collaborating on all of their music videos and album art, as well as crafting visuals to accompany their live show. 

With the release of their full-length debut, 2018’s Odd Talk, the members of the Chicago-based post-punk outfit quickly developed a national profile, with the album receiving attention nationally and across the blogosphere for a sound that critics compared to the likes of Sonic Youth and Magazine paired with incisive lyrics critiquing larger social issues — with their debut thematically focusing on communication breakdowns and the difficulties of being understood, intimacy and avoidance. Last year, the band was in the studio writing and recording material — some of which comprised their Brian Fox and Mia Clarke co-produced EP You Must Be New Here, which featured songs that focused on self-aware observations on the tenuous and dysfunctional relationship between author/creator and their audience. 

Building upon a rapidly growing profile, Ganser’s highly-anticipated sophomore album Just Look at That Sky is slated for a July 31, 2020 release through Felte Records. Thematically, the album finds the band probing the futility of striving for self-growth during chaos as the songs evoke manic worry and dread and a generalized sense of doom with a sardonic specificity. The songs also acknowledge that we’re all online all the time and that at any given moment, we have too much information about other people and other situations — and that we are all generally a tweet, a status update or an Instagram post away from truly knowing what our followers and others really think of us. The world seems like it’s ending, and it’s all overwhelming and draining mentally and emotionally. 

Just Look at That Sky’s first single, album opening “Lucky” is an tense and explosive track that’s one part Midwest noise-rock, one part post-punk and one part art rock centered around rumbling low end, discordant blasts of angular guitar, thunderous drumming and Garofalo’s desperate howling. Arguably one of the most urgent and uneasy songs they’ve released to date, the song as the band’s Nadia Garofalo explains “is a commentary on personal feelings of inadequacy and how these feelings can often result in unhealthy or extreme behaviors. Especially now, as we are in a time of uncertainty, it feels like we have even less control over what is happening to and around us. Isn’t it shitty when things don’t work out in the way we’d hoped?”

Written, directed and edited by the members of Ganser, the video stars Tom DeFrancisco and Sean Gunderson as two desperate and friends/frenemies, who spend a night drinking irresponsibly — and just like any other party, there’s a brief moment in which things inexplicably take a weird and dangerous turn. Shot in a gorgeous and cinematic black and white, the video is a bit of a mind-fuck with the action at times going forward and in reverse at will, capturing a never-ending and vacillating stream of doubt and over-examination. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: Ganser’s EP Title Track “You Must Be New Here”

With the release of last year’s critically applauded full-length debut, Odd Talk, the Chicago, IL-based post-punk act Ganser — founding members Alicia Gaines (bass, vocals) and Nadia Garofalo (keys, vocals) with Brian Cundiff (drums) and Charlie Landsman (guitar) received attention nationally for an angular post-punk sound heavily indebted to Sonic Youth and Magazine paired with incisive lyrics critiquing larger social issues. 

Now, as you may recall the members of the Chicago-based JOVM mainstays have spent the bulk of this past year in the studio, recording the material. which will comprise their forthcoming EP You Must Be New Here. Slated for a November 8, 2019 release, You Must Be New Here continues the band’s ongoing collaboration with Brian Fox — but joined in the control both with Electrelane‘s Mia Clarke. The EP’s first single “Buio” featured the angular and driving post-punk sound that first caught my attention and the rest of the blogosphere — but with a clean and precise studio sheen. And yet, at its core the song was centered around acutely self-aware observations on the tenuous and dysfunctional relationship between the author/creator and their audience.  

“You Must Be New Here,” the EP’s latest single and title track features shimmering key arpeggios, twisting and turning guitars and a stuttering rhythm that creates a tense and uneasy air while Alicia Gaines’ vocals vacillate between intention, magical thinking and making uneasy bargains with reality within a turn of a phrase. Importantly, the song is underpinned by a desperate fight for some semblance of agency within chaos and uncertainty. And in some way, it captures our current zeitgeist with a vivid accuracy. 

The lyric video takes place in a sunny, suburban-styled kitchen. The band’s Alicia Gaines has her back to us as she’s washing dishes and singing parts of the song to herself. She’s so lost in her own thoughts that she barely notices her bandmates, who come in and out of the kitchen to make themselves cups of coffee. The ordinariness of the situation gives the lyric video a surreal air. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays Ganser Release a Probing and Cake Smashing Visual for “Buio”

Formed back in 2014, the Chicago, IL-based post-punk act Ganser — comprised of founding members Alicia Gaines (bass, vocals) and Nadia Garofalo (keys, vocals) with Brian Cundiff (drums) and Charlie Landsman (guitar) — have received attention both locally and nationally for a sound that has been largely influenced by the likes of Sonic Youth and Magazine paired with lyrics, which served as incisive critiques on larger social issues. The Chicago-based quartet’s critically applauded full-length debut Odd Talk thematically focused on communication breakdowns with the material centered around narrators, who desperately attempting to seek meaning in hopeless confusion and messiness. 

The members of Ganser have spent the bulk of this year in the studio recording new material, some of which will appear on their forthcoming EP You Must Be New Here. Slated for a November 8, 2019 release, You Must Be New Here finds the band working with longtime collaborator Brian Fox and Electrelane’s Mia Clarke. The EP’s first official single “Buio” features the angular and driving post-punk sound that first caught my attention and the rest of the blogosphere — with a clean and precise studio sheen. But at its core, the song  possesses acutely self-aware observations centered around the relationship with author/creator and audience. 

Directed by the band, the recently released video is set at a highly uncomfortable dinner party, where we follow a self-conscious and awkward woman, who happily kills the mood of the party by going wild on a cake with her bare hands.  In some way, by the woman deciding to not give a fuck, she finds her own power and agency.