Chicago’s Ganser are a band that refuse to be pinned down. Composed of Alicia Gaines, Sophie Sputnik, and Brian Cundiff, the band traffic in a taut and propulsive blend of no wave, art rock and post punk, and emerged to wide acclaim during the pandemic, with the release of 2020’s Just Look At The Sky (produced with Mia Clarke of Electrelane), it’s accompanying remix EP which featured contributions from Bartees Strange, Andy Bell of Ride, Sad13, Algiers, and Adam Faulkner of Gilla Band, and it’s 2022 follow up EP Nothing You Do Matters (produced with Liars’ Angus Andrew).
Now, the band are announcing their heavily-anticipated third LP, Animal Hospital, that will be released on longtime label home felte (Fashion Club, Film School) on August 29. To mark the announce the band are sharing the album’s opening track ‘Black Sand,’ accompanied by a video directed by Gaines.
Animal Hospital, which revives the band’s relationship with producer Angus Andrew, is Ganser at their most dynamic, stretching the confines of their sonic boundaries into new territory, testing the elastic limits of their sound. The band remain steadfastly committed to propulsive patterns; drums that pound exacting beats on the heart, pulse quickened by bass and guitars, synths to calm the nerves. Building endless rhythm beneath feet moving in time on a dance floor, or a sidewalk masquerading as one.
The album’s tone is appropriately set by the ferocious lead-off track ‘Black Sand,’ led by drums that command an assembly of swirling guitars, tone like a razor’s edge, shimmering, sharp, and sleek. All of it building to a fever pitch, with vocalist Sophie Sputnik taunting an unseen force “don’t speak, don’t say it, if you put in the air I might catch it.”
Sputnik says of the track: “When I wrote these lyrics a few years ago there were wildfires, real ones. And a lot of talk around LGBTQ rights in Florida where I’m from. And it’s strange because these things, they don’t just go away. They linger. They shift. They burn, and then they burn differently. And here we are still talking about wildfires and LGBTQ rights in Florida.
“And the thing about language—about ideas—is they’re alive. That’s why people get scared of them. Because once they’re out, you can’t get them back in the box. They spread like smoke under a door. Can’t be held still. That’s the power, and also the danger.”
Animal Hospital:
- Black Sand
- stripe
- Ten Miles Tall
- Dig Until I Reach the Moon
- Grounding Exercises
- Half Plastic
- Speaking of the future,
- Creature Habits
- Lounger
- Discount Diamonds
- Plato
- Left to Chance
