"Bloodshot eyes and tired sheep / These empty pages, they laugh at me / Holding onto sanity / One more word that rhymes with..."
Ok, I don't know if the collective members of New York City based Gooseberry were jazz band kids in high school but I would bet you a dozen donuts that at least 75% of Gooseberry moved in those 5/4 time teenage circles. Also, while listening to "Sleep" from their current "Broken Dance" EP and the rock solid drumming style, I flashed on Stewart Copeland (The Police) and somehow the compelling phraseology of the chorus ""Bloodshot eyes and tired sheep / These empty pages, they laugh at me / Holding onto sanity / One more word that rhymes with..." (and maybe even the trippy dark poetry) sounds, feels very Sting like (to me as well). Obviously I am projecting and you might hear other connections but I had to bring it up just the same.
Let's just say that the genre blending and how you decipher Gooseberry's smashing together (whether lounge punk, post punk, alt rock, jazz fused or whatever) dips in and out of these genres easily, effortlessly and the band's dense potent musicality and textured artistic dynamism packs a big wallop.
Of the song, Gooseberry shares:
This song is all about anxiety and the sleepless nights that accompany it. We always describe this song as a “film noir with fangs.” To this end, we play with textures a lot: the verses have a "wetness" that feels like you’re slipping in and out of a dream; the bridge then is a moment when you’ve sort of given up and everything is fading into that twilight zone between panic and unconsciousness. The story of the song follows one's train of thought when an idea is just out of reach. You search and prowl and dig and strain and yet nothing comes, even when the answer is right in front of your face. The chorus lines tell us all we need to know about this struggle:
"Bloodshot eyes and tired sheep / These empty pages, they laugh at me / Holding onto sanity / One more word that rhymes with..."
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
https://www.facebook.com/Gooseberryband/
https://www.tiktok.com/@gooseberryband
https://open.spotify.com/artist/4kwLF73fZC8zaZI5rwbBQV
https://www.instagram.com/gooseberryband/
New York City-based four piece Gooseberry share their much anticipated debut EP, Broken Dance, via Ones to Watch, who wrote, "if you haven't heard of Gooseberry before, this EP is most certainly the perfect introduction." A bombastic, ambitious four track EP, Broken Dance sees Gooseberry thrive at what they do best: melding genres in a dynamic, thrilling fashion to create a sound that is not only unique to them, but to every song within the record. A melange of indie rock, blues, and jazz, Gooseberry prove themselves to be a band at their peak sonic creativity and cohesion.
From rolling, mesmerizing tracks like "Sleep" to melancholic slow burners like "Broken Dance," Gooseberry's sound is constantly shifting and fresh, as they effortlessly move through themes, sounds, and textures.
The band is a genre-bending alchemy of many disparate elements. They are often referred to as having "two bands in one." This phenomenon can be attributed to the distinctly different approaches of their two chief songwriters—Asa and Sam. It is this dynamic that enables Gooseberry to deftly maneuver from a song like The Protagonist, which comeherefloyd described as "indie goodness" with a "catchy melody, pulsing beat, and boastful guitars," to a song like Berkshires, which NYS Music says harkens "back to major influences like D’Angelo, Donny Hathaway, and Stevie Wonder." While the pandemic put a halt to live music right about the time Gooseberry teamed up, the group kept busy, recording and releasing three singles which have racked up greater than 100K streams to date. Per Tonemill, "The music feels live, organic and...we can imagine belting out adoringly while swaying our bodies at a Gooseberry gig." Gooseberry's debut EP is due out in 2022.
New on the block, Gooseberry has already begun developing a devoted following in and around New York City, running the full gamut of venues from The Bowery Electric to DROM to house shows across the boroughs, quickly staking their claim in the ever-lively Brooklyn music scene. Fans know they'll be kept on their toes, as the band moves in and out of genres and styles, always keeping the crowd engaged. The band expects a big year on the road in 2022, starting off with gigs at famous NYC hotspots like The Knitting Factory and Mercury Lounge.
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Gooseberry, indie rock, post rock, jazz rock, lounge punk, alt rock, blendo rock, avant rock, "Sleep", "Broken Dance" EP, rock solid drumming, dense musicality,
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