Gustaffson have released their highly anticipated debut album Black & White Movie. The album is produced by Elbow’s Craig Potter and features collaborations with Emmy-winning composer Bear McCreary and legendary actor Sir Ben Kingsley. Alongside the album, the band have released another striking video, this time accompanying the song Closer, a track whose soulful organ and gospel backing belies the dark lyrical commentary on the rising power of technology, imploring us to pull away from the screen and seek face-to-face human connection, to be “closer” to each other.
Gustaffson
Three previous singles from the album were released alongside videos which are more like short movies. Underground was filmed on location on the Northern Line in London, directed by Metin Huseyin (Outlander) and starring Sharon D. Clarke, Matthew McNulty, Kiran Sonia Sawar and Waj Ali; it followed on from the soulful On Broadway, directed by Andy Goddard (Monarch, Daredevil) and starring Daniel Ings (The Gentlemen), and the haunting Flowers, featuring Emmy-winning composer Bear McCreary (Outlander, Walking Dead), with a video directed by Myriam Raja (Top Boy) and starring Jamie Harris (Carnival Row).
Black & White Movie tells extraordinary tales of ordinary lives. With 13 tracks that serve as individual cinematic experiences, Andrew Gower’s poignant lyrics, honed over 15 years as an actor, shine light and dark on the duality of human existence. Seamlessly blending the iconic sounds of both music and film worlds, the album invites listeners on a journey where every track is a movie in its own right.
The songs are stories of escapism (Paris In Summer), Hollywood dreams (Bonnie & Clive), iconic Liverpool venues The Jacaranda and the Liverpool Empire (Champagne Socialist), with the album ending on their anthemic paean to the North (Northern Baby).
In amongst these tales is the origin story of the band’s name. In Some Kind Of Sweden, Gower answers the question: “Why are we called Gustaffson? After my Swedish-born great Grandmother, Louisa Gustaffson, who epitomised the word kind.”
Liverpool-born singer and songwriter Andrew Gower formed Gustaffson in 2020 with lifelong friend and guitarist James ‘Webbo’ Webster. Though he has been writing music since the age of 15, Gower is best known for his acting roles in acclaimed TV shows such as Black Mirror, Outlander, and Carnival Row.
Serendipity struck when Gower met elbow musician and producer Craig Potter on a film set, sparking a musical collaboration which led to the recording of a debut EP, The Jacaranda, at Blueprint Studios in Manchester (where Potter recorded Elbow’s Mercury Prize-winning album The Seldom Seen Kid) with new band members David Gleave (bass) and Graham Bennett (drums). The creative relationship sealed, Gustaffson, now with the addition of Liam Morson on keys, returned to Blueprint with Potter to record their album.
Gustaffson are excited to present Black & White Movie, an original vintage record in a modern algorithmic world. Listen here.
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