Summer is upon us. With it the debut long player from London duo Gum Takes Tooth (Thomas Fuglesang and Jussi Brightmore) is hitting the airwaves.
The album may be entitled ‘Silent Cenotaph’, but this is deceptive as there is little in the form of quiet to be heard here. From the off, it is clear that silence won’t feature heavily as the listener is instead barraged with the exuberantly heavy riffs, overbearing distortion and feedback that have won the band a religious live following. At times the tracks sound like the soundtrack to a dystopian future, occasionally recalling the music that featured on The Terminator, meandering into death metal interludes. The album heralds the arrival of these sonic pioneers in truly inimitable style.
Rhythmic, almost tribal drums, atmospheric effects and techno beats are all par for the course from Gum Take Tooth on this truly unique piece of work. This is an epoch where ‘original’ music is as hard to come by as a fan of Rebecca Black. This makes it exceedingly difficult to draw meaningful comparisons between Gum Takes Tooth and their predecessors. The band combine the ingenuity of And So I Watch You From Afar with the wonderful wackiness of Battles, but wind up sounding like true one-offs.
With song titles such as ‘Hermaphrodite and Nourishment’ they might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you like your chai with a pinch of experimentalism and a dash of hypnotic power, Gum Takes Tooth are the band for you.
Silent Cenotaph was released on June 6th 2011 by Tigertrap Records
words Tara McEvoy
