Good news, Portlanders! Gus will be playing with Love Hiss and Pohn Haul Jarrison at Turn! Turn! Turn! on June 14th. Love Hiss is the songwriting vehicle for Richard Marshall, formerly of legendary Alternative Tentacles freak-rock band Alice Donut. If you’re in the area, you don’t want to miss this! More here.
Here are a couple of photos of Gus and Estée working on props for their next music video: ”Photos taken during the props production phase of our next video project. About a month of props making for about a minute of glory.” -Estée
In this episode, Gus learns a lesson about creation from an ancient cathedral.
“Son of a gun, we’ll have big fun on the bayou!” Here’s a swampy performance of Run Rabbit Run on a twelve string guitar on the bayou of Portland, OR.
Dungeon Master turns 2 today! Here’s the original photograph Estée took of Gus’ little brother Max in Alaska that ended up being the album cover. Take a walk down memory lane and revisit all the music videos and tour documentaries Gus and Estée made. Happy birthday, Dungeon Master!
We will be releasing a swampy new field recording through our newsletter on Monday. It was filmed at the Columbia Slough by Logan Beaulieu and Estée Preda. Subscribe to the newsletter to be notified: https://gusenglehorn.com/#newsletter
Here’s a new field recording of the song ”Collarbone” off Death & Transfiguration filmed in an abandoned spaceship on Sauvie Island, February 2024.
We are thrilled to announce that the third album has reached final completion! The bulk of it was recorded in 5 days at Studio Sud-Ouest with the illustrious Mark Lawson. Working with Mark was revelatory in so many ways. We learned how to clap on the twos and the fours instead of the ones and the threes, we implemented Foley effects and ever since my mind has been buzzing with the possibilities that come along with creative production. We also did a day with our dear friend Sam Woywitka aka Montreal’s Rick Rubin aka Raggles at Mixart. Sam is an amazing sound engineer and a real sweetheart, listen to his band. Also special thanks to Josh Toal, Frisco Lee and Will Poulin for their contributions. New music soon!
”My two favorite things when it comes to songwriting are lyrics and structures. I’m most happy with my songs when the lyrics and the structures are married together in an interesting way, when a change in feeling, pace or dynamics reinforces the story I’m trying to tell. I have found that this does not happen by either writing the music and then matching the lyrics to the structure, nor from writing the lyrics and then building a structure around them. It happens slowly and simultaneously, in a maddening process, that involves me playing my acoustic guitar and saying anything that comes into my head until magically the guitar and the words sync up. It’s very important to me that I have a gestation period where I can enjoy endless malleability. I know a song is done when I can play it on the acoustic guitar and it feels complete.” -Gus
”Music is communication. What listener and artist have in common, whether they know it or not, is the desire to connect. Communication is what allows that to happen. Something of the artist is revealed and given away in the process and that’s why you end up feeling like you really know your favorite artists. Just as if you were talking to somebody and suddenly the conversation veered into incomprehensibility and you lost track of the meaning, the same often goes for a song. The cumulative effect of each word being delivered to you hitting the mark and being understood again and again have led to some of the best songs ever written. But also, a Dada collage of words, being delivered just the right way can lead you to thrilling results. And that’s songwriting. You can never pin it down. At least, I know I can’t.” -Gus
