by Patrick Pilch (@pratprilch)
Rarely does a debut sound as realized as Gut Health’s introductory EP Electric Party Chrome Girl, and Post-Trash has got first dibs (at least in the US). The Melbourne post-punk outfit takes inspiration from flashing art pop and whip-smart dance grooves, pulling influence from its members’ backgrounds in jazz, punk, and rave culture. Electric Party’s sub-three minute tracks cut to the chase, sticking to a superb, hip-shaking formula while taking subversive, non-adhesive notes from New York’s short-lived but highly-influential no wave movement. Recorded, mixed, and mastered in a storage facility in Brunswick, Gut Health adopt the DIY ethos of their predecessors to spectacular results.
If you start to listen to Electric Party, you might as well listen to it all. The EP is essentially one long song. Gut Health’s high energy, high impact arrangements make the most of shuffling bass grooves, noise-laden synthesizers, and a dynamic vocal performance by the magnetic Athina Uh Oh. Twin openers “Inner Norm” and “Lethargic” launch off the same bass riff and burst into incredibly catchy dance punk numbers, the kind so inescapable that any listener's movement is predetermined. Electric Party Chrome Girl is out November 18 via Marthouse Records. Check out the full EP below: