Gp: “SWEN” – formula-busting at its best!
Nowadays vocal effects are an essential element of music production – whether its top commercial radio hits or experimental tape releases. Now hand those effects to an experimental producer and vocalist such Gp and you end up with eclectic recordings like “SWED” and its successor “SWEN” which forges the popular single “lone le”. Gp’s productions sit somewhere in the haze of synth-wave, EDM, Trap and Chiptune music. It’s hard to classify and impossible to forget, combining seemingly infinite avant-garde influences to craft multi-timbral expressions that hit the listener’s senses all at once. Gp generates the kind of addictive melodies that inevitably transform any audience into a joyous, head-bobbing mass.
The contemporary pop music world can sound mighty bland, but artists like Gp has the potential to shake up the current scene. If you judged the state of contemporary songs, you might think that the whole world of music has collapsed into tracks built on formula-driven textures and artificially sweetened vocals.
But there’s music out there for those willing to look beyond the 10 sound-alike songs you hear over and over again on the radio and at the shopping mall.In fact, I think there’s more creativity at work in the music world today than at any point in history. It’s just harder to find, most of the best stuff is flourishing in nooks and crannies, and marginalized by mass media.
You’ll find at least three of them on the EP “SWEN” – “lone le”, “lookin” and “swen”. Gp’s music is formula-busting at its best, with the aforementioned elements of synth-wave, EDM, Trap and Chiptune simmering together in an intoxicating aural stew. The name Gp may be strange. But, trust me, the music is even stranger.
Is he a moody trapper or zany pop singer? Is he inventing a new kind of electronic music or constructing avant-garde pop tunes? Frankly, he’s doing all of the above, and it’s glorious. When some people encounter the term experimental music they almost always treat it as a warning label—an indicator of weird blandness built on mundane murmurings and tepid tinklings.
But every once in a while, an artist comes along who shows that experimental music can still convey intense excitement and psychologic depths. Gp is that kind of musician, and his new EP is likely to shake up those who think experimental sounds ought to stay in the background.
If you have a hankering for ultra-modern, melodic electro tunes, infused with hints of bubble gum music and that futuristic tunefulness, you absolutely must hear “SWEN”. The hooks are strong, the beat won’t be denied, and the Gp has a kind of lyrical playfulness I rarely hear in current-day music. The ingredients are simple enough but the end product is unique, and addictive. If I could find any of these tracks on a jukebox, I’d be dropping in coins all night long.
Gp’s sweet robotic vocals, almost hypnotic in their resonance, draw in listeners so deeply that many might not even notice the iconoclasm of his music. This is an artist with something fresh to say, and with the potential to shake up the idiom. Even if you think experimental music isn’t for you, give this artist a chance.
OFFICIAL LINKS: SOUNDCLOUD – INSTAGRAM – TWITTER
