"Polyester lies and nice blue ties / 22 hours a day / He drapes his head down to his knees / Don't care what Mary has to say..."
The polyethylene terephthalate psych rock artistry of "Polyester Lies" by New York artist, singer-songwriter, musician Gavin Sultan is hard to define, feels a little sticky in the summer but is wonderfully wrinkle free. I have a pretty high level weird detector and it peaked nicely in the abnormal zone about 50 seconds in, before that it felt rather lounge punk-esque and chill before the subversion started bubbling. Sultan's voice is pretty magnetic and cooly drawn, the artistic temperament feels proto punk circa late 70's / early 80's and I felt some of the unbridled acerbic mania of artists like James Chance And The Contortions & Swell Maps.
The chorus is almost triggering:
Geezer oh geezer why don’t you drop the slacks? / For 60 and whiskey you don’t got much time left? / Geezer oh geezer why don’t you drop the act? / A minute of living outweighs a lifetime of being trapped...
But then I am a geezer and, fuck, the advise on this chorus is wise (for sure) although given to a geezer, the joke is on us old folks because it is a lesson learned too late now isn't it. So all you girls and boys and everything in-between absorb the lessons told: "the importance of living a more meaningful life".
"Polyester Lies" was produced alongside Jasper Harris (Quarters of Change) and Rowan Martin (Paper Lady) and sports a nifty Official Video.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5yUdODNhKNz20zXrON5pNJ
https://www.instagram.com/gavinthesultan/
https://gavinsultan.com/
Whether spinning disco records at Home Sweet Home as part of his weekend DJ residency, performing at venues from Nublu to friend’s basements, producing inside the studios at Berklee College of Music or writing songs at home there is no singularity to Gavin Sultan’s artistry. When asked what type of music he makes, he hesitates. Should he reference the “elliptical and psychedelic” False Narratives where his “croony vocals feel like a 70s rocker” or his upcoming release Veil of Affection which blurs the line between Dark Wave and Synth Pop? His music continuously morphs depending on who/what he is inspired by whether that be Erik Satie, ESG, Surrealist poetry, a Moodymann set, Suicide, Charles Bradley, a Suzuki Roshi lecture or Arthur Russell. The industry tells artists they need a defined sound, yet Sultan prides himself on spontaneity, impermanence and their inherent humanness. Sultan’s live shows tend to be faster and incorporate blazing sax lines, making for an invigorating set falling somewhere between Post-Punk and Indie Pop. He was picked as a semi-finalist in Tribeca Film Festival’s Battle of the Bands, and his music has been featured on playlists such as Disco Naivete’s New Music.
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