GIS 3rd LP coming soon and a new direction beckons
Photo by: Bea Dewhurst
After two critically acclaimed albums (2020’s ‘Now Here’s An Echo From Your Future’ and 2022’s ‘The Rest Is Distraction’), and numerous mini-album, EP and single releases, London based innovators Girls In Synthesis return on May 3rd with their new statement; their third album ‘Sublimation’. If you thought you knew GIS, think again.
Pushing themselves, they have once again broken into new territories, constructing their own world and bringing forward their interpretation of a dark, twisted and angular pop record, with all the intensity of their previous work. ‘Sublimation’ once again proves GIS to be peerless, and throughout its 11 tracks they dive headfirst into an uneasy, atmospheric and intense world of melody, self-questioning lyrics and combative musical performances.
New single ‘Lights Out’ gives listeners their first glimpse of the band’s new path. An immediate statement of intent, ‘Lights Out’ is split into two distinct sections; the opening a Barrett-esque vocal and guitar lament to sleep deprived anxiety which morphs, via a ‘Faust Tapes’ influenced freeform noise section, into a stomping, high intensity closing blitz. “This is a song of two definitive sections,” explains guitarist Jim Cubitt. “The first half was instinctive. It projects the uneasy feeling of late-night anxiety when you awake from sleep in the dark of the night and your brain jumps from one terrifying thought to another. The lyrics were just a continued representation of that atmosphere of the music, which spilled out on the page”.
“The second half of the song was written collaboratively in the rehearsal room,” continues Jim. “I wrote the lyrics while walking to rehearsal, put myself in a certain head space and the lyrics appeared instantly, rhythmically matching the marching beat of my walk. John (Linger, bass) then started with the driving bass line, and we fused it together with the powerful almost ‘drum ‘n’ bass’ beat of the drums. For me this song perfectly represents the past and present Girls In Synthesis”.
Girls In Synthesis adopted a radically different approach to making ‘Sublimation’ compared to previous sessions. Recorded late 2023 at Sick Room Studios in Narborough, Norfolk by Owen Turner, these sessions marked the first time the band had worked with an engineer from the recording process onwards. Typically, in the past, GIS would record and engineer everything themselves and then collaborate on the mix with someone else, but this time they retreated to rural Norfolk and completely absorbed themselves in the isolation and quietness of their surroundings.
“We very much put a lot of importance on the geography and locations of the places we undertake projects,” says Jim. “They seem to feed into the work itself. It was completely removed from any other distractions, and the studio was conducive to making music. It wasn’t a sterile environment. Owen really listened and made sure that the quality of the songs and the atmosphere and energy of the music transferred.”
Tracks such as ‘Deceit’, ‘We Are Here’ and ‘Picking Things Out Of The Air’ see the group at their most melodic to date, minimising some of the chaotic noise elements of their signature sound and bringing to the fore impassioned, soaring vocals and keys melodies. Their trademark, driving drums and bass foundation is particularly evident on songs ‘I Judge Myself’ and ‘Corrupting Memories’, but is counterbalanced by intense, early goth influenced keyboard lines, bringing influences from late 1970s/early 1980s into focus with the contemporary GIS intensity.
Hidden gems such as ‘I Was Never There’ and ‘The Prefix’ build up tension and atmosphere with sparse arrangements and circular, spiralling outros, while closer ‘A Damning Lesson’ sees the band return to their intense, bludgeoning wall of sound only to send it into a blur of echoing drum machine, reminiscent of the early work of Cabaret Voltaire.
Lyrically, GIS prove themselves head and shoulders above their contemporaries, leaving the pastiche sloganeering and lecturing to those wishing to preach to the converted, and reach inside to bring forth poetic and challenging analysis of the anxiety and emotional turmoil of self-reflection and human relationships.
Booked in for extensive UK/EU touring throughout May and June, the band will be adapting their white-heat live show to bring subtlety and clarity to the new songs from ‘Sublimation’, losing none of their unique and intense attitude in the process. Be ready…
‘Sublimation’ track-listing:
- Light’s Out
- Deceit
- Semblance of Choice
- We Are Here
- Corrupting Memories
- I Was Never There
- Picking Things Out Of The Air
- I Jude Myself
- Subtle Differences
- The Prefix
- A Damning Lesson
Pre-order ‘Sublimation’ HERE:
Catch Girls In Synthesis live in 2024 at the following dates:
09/05/24 – MANCHESTER – The Castle Hotel
10/05/24 – LONDON – Moth Club
11/05/24 – BRISTOL – The Lanes
21/05/24 – BRUSSELS – La Source Beer Co
22/05/24 – LILLE – Bulle Cafe
23/05/24 – NIJMEGEN – Merleyn
24/05/24 – GRONINGEN – Vera
25/05/24 – DEN HAGUE – Sniester Festival
26/05/24 – KOLN – Sonic Ballroom
27/05/24 – HAMBURG – Hafenklang
28/05/24 – BERLIN – Urban Spree
29/05/24 – PRAGUE – Bike Jesus
30/05/24 – ZURICH – X-Tra Musikcafe
31/05/24 – FREIBURG – Slow Club
01/06/24 – ORLEANS – Astrolabe
06/06/24 – BIRMINGHAM – Dark Horse
07/06/24 – NEWCASTLE -Zerox
08/06/24 – GLASGOW – The Hug and Pin
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