Wasn’t sure at first what to make of this debut offering from Gum Takes Tooth. The album opener ‘Young Mustard’ is pretty frightening but very original.
Gum Takes Tooth is duo Thomas Fuglesang and Jussi Brightmore, who are based in London and like wearing scarves wrapped round their faces a la the mummified look on their Facebook profile, but let’s not hold that against them…
Fuglesang is the king of live acoustic drums that are wired into electronic instruments and bare circuit boards looked after by Brightmore.
The album’s first three tracks ‘Young Mustard’, ‘Strychnine Motive’ and ‘The Earth’s Mantle Colonised’ are loud, abrasive packages of vocally driven passion. Further disorder with tracks ‘Tannkjøtt’ and ‘Rise From The Peat and Walk.’
If you like your music twisted and dirty with a light dusting of punk, metal, acid house and vintage electronics, and if you are partial to a dental reference or two, then Gum Takes Tooth are the band for you. More chaotic and unconventional than most in their genre but it’s a welcome experiment into how far the music can go and still be danceable.