Warmer Than Gold by GUV
Ben Cook (the man formerly known as Young Guv) suddenly stopped flooding your Bandcamp feed with double albums, the answer is finally here: he was busy reinventing himself as a Britpop deity who somehow sounds more British than the actual British. Released a little over a month ago on Run For Cover Records, Warmer Than Gold is a masterfully “edgy” pivots away from the bedroom power-pop of his past and toward a high-definition, stadium-sized rave-rock fever dream. Now operating under the streamlined (and presumably more age-appropriate) moniker GUV, Cook has traded in his jangly Rickenbacker for breakbeats and a level of swagger usually reserved for people who actually got a ticket to the Oasis reunion.
The album opens with “Let Your Hands Go,” a track that effectively answers the question, “What if Beck’s brain was transplanted into Liam Gallagher’s body?” It’s an anthemic, rave-inflected belter that sets the tone for a record that is obsessed with the “Second Summer of Love” but recorded with a punchy, modern urgency. Throughout the twelve tracks, GUV dances through a minefield of influences—Primal Scream/ The Charlatans club-ready grooves, the hazy shoegaze of The Jesus and Mary Chain on “Blue Jade,” and the delicate, Sarah Records-esque chime of “Seaside Story.” Even when the record leans into earnest introspection, like on the Hatchie-assisted dream-pop gem “Never Should Have Said,” it maintains a rhythmic pulse that suggests GUV is far too cool to actually sit still and be sad.
Ultimately, Warmer Than Gold is a triumphant, slightly sarcastic love letter to the cultural history of the UK from a guy who spent his childhood between Toronto and London. It’s an album for people who want to feel like they’re bolting down a motorway at midnight, even if they’re actually just sitting in a Milwaukee coffee shop. By condensing his usually sprawling output into a tight 45 minutes, GUV has delivered his most cohesive and undeniably “banging” statement to date. It is the perfect soundtrack for anyone who wants to transcend the “status-obsessed conditions of the contemporary world” while still having a hook stuck in their head for three days straight.
Links to check out:
https://guvofficial.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/youngguv
https://runforcoverrecords.com/products/guv-warmer-than-gold
