Issue 49 / October 2014

gul
6
Bido Lito! October 2014
Words: Patrick Clarke / @paddyclarke
Photography: Jack McVann / jackmcvann.net
GULF are a band just six songs into their career of as many
months and are undeniably a group at the embryonic, outwardlooking,
listless-possibilities stage. That said, the five-piece
have already begun to be saddled with the heavy weight
of potential, the current buzz-thing subjected to the hypemachine’s
perpetual churn – in Gulf’s case, they are “enigmatic”,
“mysterious” and “elusive”. Until recently, the band had next to
no online presence, but there’s little in the way of a scheme
behind it. Gulf are remaining relatively anonymous not to
perpetuate a marketed mythology – as a snowballing gaggle
of groups from The Residents onwards have done – but simply
because they just don’t want to be rushed, preferring to speak
via little more than sheer proficiency.
All that aloofness does, nevertheless, generate at least
a little apprehension when encountering such a band in the
flesh. Writers are, after all, ever champing at the bit to get their
mitts on the big reveal. Approaching the Baltic Social to meet
the group on a sticky late-summer afternoon, it soon becomes
apparent that it’s a sense of modest introversion – as opposed
to any kind of antagonism or self-importance – that has kept
Gulf away from rafts of prying eyes. An opening question on
the subject of the so-called mystery surrounding the group
garners neither a scoff nor outrage, but a long, shy and slightly
awkward pause instead.
“We’re not really into social media. I think it’s nonsense,”
drummer Josh Gorman eventually states with uncharacteristic
curtness. “I’m not sure it’s that good for actually building an
audience, Facebook.” As we find sufficient quiet in a disorderly
rehearsal room upstairs, their Facebook page is two days old;
there are, at the time of writing, still no posts. “When you
start a band, you’re expected to have a Facebook page and
a Twitter [account] before you’ve got any songs, whereas
we were the opposite way. We put it out on the blogs first
and then thought about it later,” Josh continues. “It’s very
important for some bands. I just don’t think we want to
concentrate on that side,” concedes a more measured Jake
Brown, the band’s bassist.
The band have six tracks recorded and, though in name
the half-dozen are merely demos, they are the sound of a
band that, musically at least, seem fully formed and entirely
at ease. Recorded with Darren Jones, whose CV boasts prior
work with Bird, Bill Ryder-Jones, The Maccabees and The Fall,
the demos recoil, shimmer and groove, led by thick, viscous
bass and a smooth, collected vocal; these are no throwaway
bedroom efforts. “We just want to get good quality stuff out
there, and we’ve still managed to achieve a good-quality
result doing it our own way,” offers Mark Jones (Synth, Guitar,
Vocals). “We’re going to go with the demo approach, post
them on SoundCloud, see what the reaction is, rather than
official stuff,” adds the drummer.
“I think it’s good because you’re in control, aren’t you? We’re
in control of how we record it, when we put it out, when we do
the press,” continues Josh. “Also, the idea that it’s a demo means
it could be better; it’s not the mastered, final, be-all-and-end-all
label version. It’s just the best we could do with the budget
we had at the time.” It does seem a little unusual, however,
that the group feel no pressure to release something ‘proper’
– there are, as of yet, no plans for an EP, video or official single –
even though their track Emitter has just premiered as a “single”
on Les Inrocks. “If the music’s there the music’s there, whether
it’s official or not,” says Josh when I ask the band if they’re
worried about being overtaken by their considerable attention.
“I see what you mean, though – obviously hype’s important, but
I don’t think it’s getting ahead of us,” adds Mark
That hype includes national press, an arguable zenith being
a feature in NME and, though they might not have the web
savviness to buttress the build-up, the undeniable excellence of
their outings thus far would seem to be backing enough. Emitter
sees a full-bodied propulsion into the realm of psychedelic pop
in modish and inviting fashion, with alluring, capacious synths
rippling and washing atop an irresistible groove, colliding with
a cool, stylised vocal. Prime, meanwhile, the track that initially
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