GusGus album launch interview feat. Margrét Rán (Vök)

After 25 years of music, memories and unforgettable live performances, GusGus unfold into a new era with the announcement of their upcoming 2021 album. Rejuvenated and replete with creative aspiration, the collective welcome Vök’s Margrét Rán as the newest member of the circus, calling upon her illustrious dream-pop vocals to launch a new chapter in the GusGus saga.

GusGus has had a span of nearly two decades in which they have done nearly every style of electronic influenced music. From techno to trip-hop, from house to progressive house/trance to pop, this collective has made each style their own. With the band’s name refering to the 1974 German film Ali: Fear Eats the Soul where a female character is cooking couscous for her lover, pronouncing it Gusgus. Selling over 700,000 albums world wide, Gusgus’ music is eclectic and has been remixed by Indie electronic luminaries such as Björk, Depeche Mode, Moloko, and Sigur Rós.

Brimming with ethereal sonic finesse, their primary quest has always been to transcend the physical realm and evoke a divinely hypnotic sense of release via their audiences. On a continuous emotional journey that champions free expression and sound experimentation, the emblematic outfit subverts the traditional electronic music format and oscillate between analog hardware and celestial song, resulting in their own intoxicating strain of electronica.

Formed in 2013 by singer Margrét Rán and saxophonist Andri Már, Vök started life by entering the annual band contest, “Músíktilraunir,” competition in Iceland. The problem: They didn’t actually have any songs to perform. Within a matter of weeks, Vök composed several tracks and performed them for the very first time at the band contest. And you guessed it … Vök won the competition. The duo became a trio at the start of the summer 2013 when they introduced guitarist Ólafur Alexander to the fold. Subsequently they recorded and released the EP, ‘Tension’ via Icelandic indie label Record Records.

Described as dream-pop/indie-electro band their sound consists of dreamy electronics with melodic vocals, distant saxophones and clean reverberated guitars. Vök is easily placed in the realm of indie-electro, thus resulting in everyone from The Knife and The xx to Poliça and Phantogram, but their music is distinctly their own

Offering an immersive montage of short stories that will serve as their most ambitious and forward-thinking LP to date, “Mobile Home” echoes the world’s forgotten purpose, lost between screens of distraction and material consciousness. This conceptual manifesto is the embodiment of GusGus and their world; a virtuous blend of masterful compositions and profound ideologies.

BRIEF

We were approached by Get In Ltd, a music PR agency based in Soho, London to enquire if we would be interested in being involved with media support for GusGus and their 12th studio album – Mobile Home.

DESIGN PROCESS

At the time of publishing the 2nd single from the album had just been released so we had the first release ‘Higher’ to use as promotional content in the project. Senior publicist Maddie Eastman at GET IN PR facilitated the communication between ourselves and the artists. We provided the appropriate questions to ask regarding the promotion of the album which were answered on camera and sent back to us in single video files un edited.

Decoded Creative then sourced appropriate b-roll and worked with the record label to white list the music which would be used from their back catalogue and new album to create a feature interview/short documentary style promotion video for their social media platforms.

PROJECT SUCCESS

– over 13,500 views on YouTube
– over 830 hours watch time
– over 500 likes on YouTube

VIDEO SCREEN SHOTS