News

Gustaf reveal new track ‘The Motions’

It’s the final single from their upcoming debut album ‘Audio Drag For Ego Slobs’.

Photo: Cory Fraiman-Lott

With their debut album ‘Audio Drag For Ego Slobs’ out on 1st October on Royal Mountain Records, Brooklyn’s Gustaf are sharing final single ‘The Motions’.

“I always envisioned ‘The Motions’ as our ‘walking around New York City’ song,” vocalist Lydia Gammil says. “The cadence is great for trudging across a bridge or taking the subway. The song is about snapping between the perspective of your chaotic inner narrative while following the precut path of the world around you. Like when you’re strutting down the sidewalk to a song and your headphones slip off for a second to reveal the natural soundscape you’d been ignoring, realizing the world you had been wrapped up in is not the one shared by everyone else. Then you see that everyone with headphones is jumping between their own personal world and the reality they’re actually living in. I’ve found that if you walk around New York City without headphones, the streets are surprisingly silent. It’s us that add the cacophony of our own personal soundtracks.

“The song shuffles through these different perspectives. The hook (watch, breathe, think, see…) mimics the grounding voice inside the narrator’s head going through their next steps while interiorly they’re barely keeping it together. The first (and only) verse is their inner monologue breaking through as they participate in the slog of getting from one place to another. They’re battling the imprint of another person, blaming them for getting in the way of their progress, their forward motions obstructed by the taunts and memory of someone else. Sort of like a hypothetical fight you have in the shower. Just as the inner mind derails into chaos, the second refrain snaps out to the 3rd person and we are back in the world’s choreography of the mundane. The performance of the habitual, human ants dancing along our track.

“When you’re losing control of your inner narrative, the motions are the reminder you tell yourself to keep it together. Sometimes though you just can’t help it and get lost in the personal panic of the na-na-need feed of it all.”

Check it out below.

‘Audio Drag for Ego Slobs’ Tracklisting:
1. Mine
2. Book
3. Best Behavior
4. Dream
5. Liquid Frown
6. The Motions
7. Cruel
8. Dog
9. Package
10. Happy

See Gustaf live at the following dates:

OCTOBER
01 - Charlotte, NC - Snug Harbor
02 - Knoxville, TN - Mill and Mine
03 - Cincinatti, OH - MOTR Pub
04 - Cleveland, OH - Beachland Tavern
06 - Milwaukee, WI - Cactus Club
07 - Saint Paul, MN - Palace Theatre #
08 - Chicago, IL - Riviera Theatre #
09 - Detroit, MI - Saint Andrew’s Hall #
10 - Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall #
12 - Boston, MA - House of Blues #
13 - Philadelphia, PA - The Fillmore #
15 - New York, NY - Terminal 5 #
16 - New York, NY - Terminal 5 #
17 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club #
18 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club #
20 - Asheville, NC - The Orange Peel #
21 - Nashville, TN - Cannery Ballroom #
22 - Atlanta, GA - Masquerade - Heaven Stage #
25 - Austin, TX - Stubb’s #
26 - Dallas, TX - Granada Theater #
27 - San Antonio, TX - Paper Tiger #

NOVEMBER
02 - Birmingham, UK - The Sunflower Lounge $
03 - Bristol, UK - Rough Trade Bristol $
04 - London, UK - The Dome $
06 - Brighton, UK - Mutations Festival @ The Green Door Store
08 - Leeds, UK - Hyde Park Book Club $
09 - Manchester, UK - YES (Pink Room) $
10 - Liverpool, UK - Arts Club Loft $
11 - London, UK - The Windmill, Brixton
13 - Utrecht, NL - Le Guess Who Festival
14 - Kortrijk, BE - Sonic City Festival
14 - Brussels, BE - Witloof Bar
16 - Berlin, DE - Cassiopeia
17 - Haldern, DE - Haldern Pop Bar
18 - Paris, FR - Les Femmes S’en Melent @ Petit Bain
19 - Lille, FR - The Black Lab
20 - Luxembourg City, LU - Rotondes Klub

DECEMBER
02 - San Diego, CA - Soda Bar %
03 - Joshua Tree, CA - Pappy’s %
08 - Seattle, WA - Barboza (Headline)
09 - Portland, OR - Bunk Bar (Headline)
18 - Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour *
19 - Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour *

# - supporting IDLES
$ - supporting Pillow Queens
% - co-headline w/ Kills Birds
* - supporting Osees

Tags: Gustaf, News, Watch

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