Secret City Records – Queen City Sounds and Art

Gus Englehorn appears as a charismatic Christian minister in the video for “Exercise Your Demons” in full sales/charlatan mode, suit, headset mic and all. But this far too convincing strangeness goes into an exercise video like you’d see on late night TV but this one blurring the metaphor of exorcism and exercise as in to bring forth one’s demons and let them fly out for a change instead of holding them in or trying to expunge them from the psyche. This all set to a propulsive guitar jangle pop song and Englehorn’s always bizarrely fun and unique vocals. When Englehorn repeats mantra-like the lines “young and dumb,” “for years to come” and “I was so dumb” you recognize that truth and regret for yourself. The combination of spoken word and singing on the tracks from the singer-songwriter’s forthcoming album Dungeon Master (due out April 29, 2022 on Secret City Records, pre-order here) combined with eerie yet cheerful synths and unexpectedly solid pop songcraft including this track promise one of the standout albums of 2022 in terms of originality and making odd yet incredibly relatable ideas accessible through a cultural insight that only coming at subjects from an idiosyncratic angle and yield.

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The surreal weirdness of Gus Englehorn’s song and video for “Tarantula” immediately triggers memories and visions of Half Japanese, Alice Donut, They Might Be Giants and King Missile in your brain. It’s from an album called Dungeon Master and if geek adept status wasn’t earned for Englehorn for that alone, the curiously catchy and tuneful song turns an off standard melody sound in the vocals and unusual delivery into something that draws you in. The lyrics are also somewhat nonsensical and bizarre. “Tarantula that whispers in your ear” followed by lines that don’t clarify a thing like “Hold your head under water” and “River bed ever after.” But it doesn’t matter. It’s absurdist imagery at its finest and need not fulfill some linear succession of thought. The image of a tarantula whispering quasi mystical, Dada-esque phrases into your ear forces the brain down alternate pathways that take you off the map of the everyday. And does it make less sense then the words to a whole swath of pop music? “Louie Louie” people have sung along to since it came out or “Surfin’ Bird” and both songs are completely demented musically with lyrics that matter less than the almost shamanistic quality of their cadence and the same is true here. Watch the video that Englehorn made with his musical partner in crime Estée Preda made for “Tarantula” on YouTube and connect with Englehorn at the links below. Dungeon Master releases on April 29, 2022 on Secret City Records.