By: Ginny Yang
With tunes that mix Jam-inspired grooves with flashes of ’80s synth-pop, New York outfit Group Sounds create music made for unconsciously strutting and spastically dancing. Singer Jesse Korwin and bassist Jared Gutstadt cut their teeth with garage rock act the Izzys. Although the band received major label record offers, the duo opted to start a new project and teamed up with keyboardist “Sexy” Joe Epstein and drummer Randy Slavin in 2004. Together, they toured with Hot Hot Heat, Louis XIV, and the Kills — all before releasing a full-length debut. On their self-titled four-song EP, the ensemble explores heartache and rejection through punchy beats and deceptively upbeat delivery.
On opener “Business Before Pleasure,” Group Sounds match falsetto vocals with an irrepressible hip-shaking chorus reminiscent of former tour-mates Hot Hot Heat. “Have you ever looked at the weather?” Korwin wonders in the track, a manic ode to the day-to-day grind. “If you ask then I’ll tell ya / It’s business before pleasure.” “1000 Phone Calls” discusses a turbulent affair that runs its course through a series of dial-ups, and failed relationships remain on the docket on “It’s All Over” and “Things Fall Apart.” In the latter tune — whose casting-call video has become a cult fave on the Internet — the band bemoans the final legs of a summer romance over a chipper melody that would induce even the most stoic hipsters to flail their limbs. “We never wanted to be this way,” the frontman chirps. “We fell in love / She ran away.” Breaking up may be hard to do, but with an exuberant retro-rock vibe, the collective discovers that dancing may be the best form of group therapy.
Group Sounds Tour Dates
1/12, New York, NY (Rothko)1/13, Hoboken, NJ (Maxwells)1/17, New York, NY (R and R)1/19, Boston, MA (Harpers Ferry)2/16, Boston, MA (Harpers Ferry)
