Emerging from a cardice-like mist, as Bonnie Tyler might have done however many eclipses past, Young Boy (Marika in Amerika) – the latest to surface from Gang Gang Dance’s forthcoming Kazuashita full-length – begins in a power balladeering manner, as twinkling keys perforate the immediate atmosphere. Josh Diamond’s crystalline guitar line keeps to this particular brief too, leading you to believe that this may well be their most unashamedly accessible song to date…
Yet conversely, a complete volte-face some 57 seconds in puts paid to this, Souleyman-like, kinetic synths kicking in as Brian DeGraw’s singular production style takes hold. It sounds not dissimilar to an entire record’s worth of songs crammed into four-plus minutes, so broad is the spectral palette from which this one’s been so impressively painted, and there are further exoteric flourishes, as the New Yorkers flit with typical whimsy between stimulating verses and sumptuous choruses. It makes for an unmistakably bold number, but demonstrably emboldened by – or perhaps because of – their prolonged absence since Eye Contact, you just can’t take your ears off of Gang Gang Dance at the minute.
Kazuashita is available from June 22nd via 4AD.