Gang Gang Dance’s “Eye Contact”- Brian DeGraw Talks Process and 4AD

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With their records and live shows alike, Gang Gang Dance always allure me into and on an entrancing otherworld journey. Lizzi Bougatsos’ haunting vocals and dynamic layers of melodies lead me into ethereal dream states only to be brought back down moments later with solid pounding rhythmic drums. Last week’s show at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn was no different as they played their last hometown NY show before heading off to Europe continuing the tour for their fifth album, Eye Contact, on 4AD. GGD’s Brian DeGraw took time out from busy tour preparations to discuss Eye Contact and their new relationship with 4AD.

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DeGraw walked me through the three-part process of recording the record. They started with writing and recording in the desserts of California in Wonder Valley near Joshua Tree.  Then tracking was done near Woodstock, NY in a studio previously converted from a church with large stained-glass windows.  DeGraw recalled the studio having “really magical light shining in at all hours of the day” and the surroundings providing “lots of room for solitude,” comically adding, “there was also a ghost there that ate [his] cookies.” The final mixing was also done upstate New York, but in Tivoli, where he resided this past year. Surrounded again in remote settings, DeGraw appreciated being “able to mix and simultaneously look out the windows at the trees and wild turkeys.”  He compared the process of recording this album to previous ones:

This is the first record we have made that involved so much space and serenity in terms of the physical environment and I really think it made a huge difference with the sound of the finished album. Most of our records have been made in extremely claustrophobic city spaces with all the usual chaos going on around us. The last record [Saint Dymphna] specifically was one of the most uncomfortable records to make in terms of cold weather, small rooms, lack of studio time, etc. I think you can hear [those influences] on the last one... the way it’s sort of thrown together more like a rushed collage. With Eye Contact I'm really happy to hear the spaciousness in the sequence of the songs and within some of the songs themselves. I think it has a much better arc to it and it sort of tells a story... which I didn’t realize until it was done- more proof of the subconscious being a very sensible place I guess.

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GGD’s subconscious is undeniably sensible with Eye Contact. Pitchfork commend this to be their “finest, weirdest, and most uplifting statement yet.”



The Guardian praise Eye Contact with relevance to 4AD as “an even more lush and spangled work that fits snugly with their new label, 4AD, once home to the likes of the Cocteau Twins, whose post-verbal dreamlands Gang Gang Dance also distantly evoke.” DeGraw “grew up pretty fascinated by the output of the label and the consistency of their aesthetic.” Also being influenced by the Cocteau Twins, he feels “honored to be a distant cousin to them in some respect.” Along with Cocteau Twins, Bauhaus and Dead Can Dance gave way to 4AD’s beginnings. In recent years, the label’s roster include a majority of independent rock bands like Blonde Redhead, Deerhunter and Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti. However, upcoming releases on the label are more electronic focused and this is where GGD play a pivotal role. DeGraw recaps a conversation with the label about GGD representing “a perfect bridge between the ‘old’ 4AD and the ‘new’ 4AD because [their] sound has a foot in both worlds. [They] are essentially an electronic band but have guitars and drums and play everything physically rather than through programming sequences.” Not surprisingly, DeGraw appreciates this association, “I like the idea of being that bridge. I like GGD to be a gateway in any respect possible.”

Gang Gang Dance’s genre defiance is indeed a gateway into unchartered frontiers as they encapsulate diverse and global yet obscure influences from electronic to Asian pop to drum and bass to R&B to afrobeat to grime… even to other worlds.





Stream the entire album courtesy of 4AD here. Eye Contact releases this week.

Music video for Mindkiller- Directed by Shoji Goto of the Boredoms:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R7k1_kOqvk&feature=player_embedded#at=18

"Glass Jar" live from last week's Music Hall of Williamsburg show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v3ZfGi0OmM

Here for more photos of GGD by Brian DeRan, who also manages them through Leg Up! Management.

For more on GGD and Brian DeGraw, follow his blog.