Sound Republic: Album Reviews

Gypsy & The Cat - Gilgamesh

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By Richard Wilson
3 November 2010

Album Rating: 3 / 5

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Gypsy & The Cat

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Gilgamesh

What happens when two DJs pair up and start producing music influenced by everyone from Fleetwood Mac and Queen to Michael Jackson? The answer is Gypsy & The Cat, a Melbourne duo out with their debut album Gilgamesh.

Listen while you read:

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Time To Wander (from Gilgamesh by Gypsy and the Cat)

On paper it just don't work. Two guys creating Bee Gee-esque harmonies backed by a booming wall of indie-pop electronica. But Gypsy & The Cat succeed in creating a sonic experience that fits perfectly within "that sound" that will come to define the musical sensibilities of 2010.

Yes, I did just get nostalgic about current music trends.

At times Gilgamesh does veer towards straight up dance music -- sometimes too close for comfort for this reviewer as with the ambitious breakthrough song Jona Vark -- but it's ultimately all a part of a complete musical package that goes everywhere unashamedly, from the wonderfully tragic 80s title track Gilgamesh... to the wonderfully tragic 70s disco Breakaway, flaunting Barry Gibbs imitations against a tapestry of modern beats and synth.

Yeah, Disco and the subsequent 1980s have a lot to answer for, but Gypsy & The Cat aren't one of those things. Gypsy & The Cat stick firmly with an electronic sound, but it's in tracks like Watching Me, Watching You that a sense of depth comes out. The requisite soft album closer is there, and in A Perfect 2, Gypsy & The Cat tease with a folky acoustic-ish pop sound.

I'd by lying if I didn't say I'd probably only last a song or two if I caught them live, but listening to Gilgamesh there's a summery goodness that evokes the warm overpriced festival beers, Jay Jays fashion trends and everything else we love to hate or hate to love about Summer.