Album Review Gustaf - Audio Drag For Ego Slobs

Hailing from the same New York circles that birthed the likes of Bodega, Public Practice and scene starters Parquet Courts, it’s not that Gustaf are necessarily trying to reinvent the wheel; full of angular jerks and pithy one-liners, ‘Audio Drag For Ego Slobs’ is very much a product of its environment. What the band - helmed by magnetic, bullish vocalist Lydia Gamill - have done, however, is find a way to reflect an oft-mined style in their own image. From the opening withering salvo of ‘Mine’ (“You said I’m much too old to be lo-fi”), via the sarcastic gang chants of ‘Best Behaviour’, through to the exaggerated, theatrical “oohs” and “aahs” that respond throughout ‘Cruel’ like a sarcastic take on Grease’s ‘Summer Nights’, the band’s debut is one that rings with a playful sense of humour. It should come as little surprise that Lydia has spent time on the standup circuit, and it’s this ability to send up any notions of seriousness that’s Gustaf’s greatest trick. Add some suitable spiky, metronomic riffs and ‘Audio Drag…’ is anything but.