IndieForBunnies

Active since the early 90’s, Gorky’s Zygotic mynci’s recent album came out in 2003. The Gorkys are a prolific band, with some 10 albums to their credit. Their early style was psych-rock, but gradually they adopted an indie pop attitude, all the while remaining faithful to their welsh origins. It is possible that the Gorkys have split up; this could account for Euros Childs’ (their frontman and lyricist) first solo album, entitled “Chops”. Roughly produced, it sounds rather like a collection of b-sides of his mother band. Or perhaps an accentuation of the indie pop attitude, which often relies on the home-made production of ear-candies. At any case, “Chops” still holds the same kind of playful variety that was present in any of the Gorkys’ albums. It opens with an a-capella poem, called “Billy the Seagull”, and goes on from there to a shiny, pompous glam-rock piece (“Donkey Island”). Childs does not neglect his welsh lyrics, here present in “Dawnsio Dros Y Mor” (as in some other songs, notably the hard rock of “Hi Mewn Socasau”), in which the music actually sounds rather Spanish. Elsewhere on the album can be found melancholic welsh ballads, drum machines, bongos, spoken word eccentricities, an analogue synth and a parody of a country-folk song. The unique mix of irony, pessimism, folk sensibilities and catchy pop that where the trade mark of Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci are actually more strongly felt in Childs’ solo work. Here he is finally left alone to his melancholia and everlasting longing (for summer, of course).