Gulp - All Good Wishes (2018)

Gulp, formed by Super Furry Animals’ Guto Pryce, Lindsey Leven and their long standing guitarist Gid Goundrey, release their new album 'All Good Wishes', which is set for release August 3rd via E.L.K Records. Gulp are on a journey, a state of perpetual transition. The band make mini Kraut-pop epics, informed equally by the sun flares of the Californian desert and the drizzle of pure, sweet Scottish rain and northern light. Debut album ‘Season Sun’ was a home-grown delight, a ramshackle, endlessly inventive selection of dreamy psychedelic nuggets to watch the world flash past.

New album ‘All Good Wishes’ half-inches its title from a vintage Scottish postcard, and it’s emblematic of the changes the pair have undergone. “I think all through making this record we were looking at relocating,” Guto explains. “Whereas the first record was more of a road trip this is possibly a bit more focussed on home, and focussed on where we’re from and where we’re looking to go to. It’s partly a farewell to Wales, and hello to Scotland.”

The record was largely built in South Wales, a three-year process that saw the band retreat to their basement for endless sonic incisions and revisions. A broader, wider, perhaps bolder experience than their debut, ‘All Good Wishes’ is rooted in fantastic pop songwriting, in creating three minute vignettes that express complex ideas in a simple, accessible, endlessly fascinating way. Endlessly restrained yet infinitely open, each Gulp track is like a world in miniature, ideas borrowed from Krautrock and electronic culture slimmed down into these infinitely enjoyable pop songs.

Minimalist Kraut-pop with a dreamy, Cocteau Twins esque vibe, recent single ‘Morning Velvet Sky’ was a potent introduction to the duo’s ever-shifting realm. Following on from introductory cut ‘Search For Your Love’ - released on Tim Burgess’ esteemed O Genesis label - ‘Morning Velvet Sky’ was mixed by Luke Abbott, and the producer cast his eye over the record as a whole during the final mixdown in his home studio in Norwich

From Cardiff to Norwich and onwards to the Scottish East Coast, Gulp are tracing sonic ley-lines, empowering themselves, plugging into often over-looked artistic communities to fuel their next move. “We spent a lot of time on road trips listening to music, experiencing and enjoying different landscapes” he explains. “It’s especially apt in these times to see the good side of human nature; despite what the media portrays, people are generally sound, and it’s great be reminded of that in day-to-day living.