{"id":11987,"date":"2021-01-11T12:41:15","date_gmt":"2021-01-11T18:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/?p=11987"},"modified":"2026-05-06T15:11:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T20:11:18","slug":"album-review-gulfer-gulfer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2021\/01\/11\/album-review-gulfer-gulfer\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review :: Gulfer :: Gulfer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/gufer-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11988\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/gufer-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/gufer-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/gufer-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/gufer-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/gufer-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/gufer.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>b<em>y Chris Bryson<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gulfer make an enthralling blend of math-entwined emo-punk. From the stance of 2018\u2019s well-received <em>Dog Bless<\/em>, the Montr\u00e9al band have hit a sweet spot between complexity and catharsis that they\u2019ve continued with their new self-titled LP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>The album opens with the brief blip-bloopy \u201cIntro\u201d that leads into the charged-up \u201cBlurry,\u201d whose interweaving hooks and melodies and skittering percussion meld gracefully together. \u201cNature Kids\u201d starts off with chugging riffs until the band scrambles things up with intricate rhythms, groovy guitar and chiming notes. Curious and accepting lyrics are made emphatic on \u201cForget (Friendly),\u201d while the winding notes and wordless singing in the latter part of \u201cMall Song\u201d emanates a dreamy vibe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite calmly delivered vocals, rapid-fire drums and guitars give \u201cLetters\u201d a bold urgency. And \u201cSymmetry\u201d hosts one of the band\u2019s most beautiful instrumental passages, where the guitars weave through each other as the drums skip, patter and dance in the background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Gulfer<\/em>\u2019s lyrical themes of uncertainty, learning about and figuring out people, relationships and life fit nicely into instrumentals that seem to tread common ground, blending math rock\u2019s jittery flow with outpourings of melody, modal shifts and emo and punk\u2019s impassioned heart to keep things moving. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This all coincides with one of the things that makes Gulfer\u2019s music most interesting \u2013 their inability to stay in place for too long. Where, like life, there is constant momentum, but Gulfer has been making space for reflection, elegantly mixing the knotty with the beautiful, taking strides in the best ways they can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/gulfer.bandcamp.com\/album\/gulfer\">https:\/\/gulfer.bandcamp.com\/album\/gulfer<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Chris Bryson Gulfer make an enthralling blend of math-entwined emo-punk. From the stance of 2018\u2019s well-received Dog Bless, the Montr\u00e9al band have hit a sweet spot between complexity and catharsis that they\u2019ve continued with their new self-titled LP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11987"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11989,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11987\/revisions\/11989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}