Gustaf Announces Full-Length With A Brand New Single/Video

Today, Gustaf are announcing their debut LP, the magnificently titled Audio Drag For Ego Slobs, which will be out on October 1st on Toronto’s Royal Mountain Records (Wild Pink, Alvvays, Mac DeMarco), and sharing their new single “Book.”

Of the track Gustaf‘s Lydia Gammil says: “Book is a song about the fallacy and fight of getting ahead vs being a head. It is seeking validation in the wrong places and from the wrong people. The hook, “I got ahead, I got a head” is a fun little taunt that we find either being thrown in our face or coming out our mouth. Everyone gets their moment up on the pedestal and everyone gets their turn falling off of it. Whether it’s up or down, ‘Book’ is about accepting whatever level you’re on.” 

Formed in 2018, Brooklyn’s Gustaf have built a kind of buzz that feels like it comes from a different era. The art punk 5 piece rapidly established a reputation as one of New York’s “hardest working…and most reliably fun bands” (BrooklynVegan), and early excitement about their danceable, ESG-inspired post punk expanded outside of their city with remarkable effect despite having released no recorded music and barely having an online presence. As a result of their magnetic live show the band found unlikely early champions, catching the attention of luminaries like Beck – who had the band open for him at a secret loft party he played around the release of his latest album – the New York no wave legend James Chance, and shared stages with buzzing indie acts like Omni, Tropical F*** Storm, Dehd and Bodega, while word of mouth led to sell out shows when they played their first LA headline dates in late 2019. They finally released recorded music in the form of their debut 7 inch at the end of 2020, which only furthered the growth of their reputation, earning them comparisons to acts like Television, The Talking Heads, The B-52s and LCD Soundsystem from NPR (who made them a Slingshot artist for 2021), NME (who included them in their NME 100 for the year), Paste, The Needle Drop, DIY, The Forty-Five, and So Young among many others. In the UK they were also A-listed on BBC 6 Music.