EP Review: Guym - Funderberker
Reviewed by Rob Barker
London two-piece Guym have come forth with a worthy presentation of commotion in the form of Funderberker. Formed by brothers Chris and Alex, this short but sweet offering shows off all the noise, urgent energy, mathy riffs and bonkers drumming that you could ask for.
We Came To Burgle Your Turts and The Frogurt Is Also Cursed are the first two tracks of the EP – immediately meeting the listener with Horse! The Band levels of aggression and rawness, but if it was all Bri’ish and accomplished without the use of beep-boop keyboard. Straight away, bouncy, heavy madness meets you like a brick, with vocals comparable to Blakfish and musicianship comparable to Cleft.
Life Is Hard Tommy takes over next, presenting a much more chilled intro compared to the car-crash energy of the last two. You could almost say that LIHT has an indie/post-punk anthem vibe to it initially – the clean vocals are really lovely to hear in their unpolished and unashamed haggardness (weirdly reminds me of Chuck Mosley’s “singing” vocals from early Faith No More). Guym don’t stick to convention though, even in what is arguable one of the more conventional songs of the EP; that between-verse breakdown riff is unreal! I feel like Jamie Lenman would have been proud of this one if he’d have written it. Bonus gift of a free earworm courtesy of the chorus, you’ll be screaming “we’re never gonna be that happy again” well after the song has ended.
Early Biffy Clyro and Pulled Apart By Horses influences coming through with I’ll Do This With My Hands in a strong in this janky audio assault, followed by That’s My Purse I Don’t Know You, showing off a really cool contrast between the lighter and heavier sides that Guym have to offer - their more “…normal?” songwriting abilities sewn in beautifully to the unpredictable attacks already cemented in the majority of the EP.
Funderberker finishes up with Castlehead – certainly the first minute or so is a left turn in terms of tone and expectancy, with an almost angelically clean guitar tone and Lindsey Buckingham-esque playing style. We progress into a pretty decent end-credits sequence of an outro that nicely finishes off the EP with an element of calm, but still serves as a reminder of the overall organised chaos that the last fifteen-or-so minutes has been.
Guym have really made art with Funderberker, and not only should you go listen to it right now, you should make sure you go see Guym at one of their upcoming shows. This is a band you’ll be proud to say you were a fan of from the start (if you care about that sort of thing), and having spoken to Chris about the future of the band, it’s definitely a train that will be worth taking a ride on.
