Hip hop
Gus Dapperton is a polymath, a bedroom pop pioneer, a fashion icon – among countless other things. Since his debut single all the way back in mid-2016, his poetic lyricism and rich, nostalgic instrumentals have struck a chord, igniting a new wave of indie along the way, as well as asserting his position as a late 2010s indie pop trailblazer. His output is just as consistent as the calibre of music; a non-stop stream of razor-sharp projects, most notably sophomore LP ‘Orca’, a stunning and introspective record released during the midst of the pandemic. Now, Dapperton’s third studio effort, ‘Henge’, has just hit streaming, his most ambitious and assured to date. A mesh of pop, dance music and Dapperton’s signature brand of indie, ‘Henge’ is a triumph for the multi-faceted artist, coming nearly three years since his last record.
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“I feel like ‘Henge’ took a bit longer to come together than some of my other albums,” Gus Dapperton recalls via Zoom. Gus is sat outside, sipping a coffee, clad in a classic red plaid shirt and vintage sunglasses. He’s around an hour from New York City, where he lives, and is spending time at his family home in upstate New York, joining us to discuss his wonderful third studio record, and to reminisce on his last few years. “‘Orca’ came together quickly but took a lot out of me – I finished it right before quarantine. During quarantine I was lacking inspiration. I like to make music most when I have a bigger concept to write about, and it took me a while to find that. When I wrote ‘Wet Cement’, it all sort of came together. And I knew what I wanted to write about. This album is about the internal battle between seeking out chaos and change and freedom on one hand, and on the other hand seeking out health and safety and routine, and all those things.”
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For Gus, and many artists, the pandemic was a sharp brake-check on his career. But the slow burn to garner inspiration for ‘Henge’ was clearly for the best, the result being his most considered and authentic project to date. A layered concept of the time between sunset and sunrise, even the title is a reference only native New Yorkers might understand: “Manhattan Henge. It’s this occurrence that happens in New York City where the sun lines up between the buildings and it looks like a solstice. I was kind of relating to the sun going down and then being trapped in this weird underground, magical universe of New York City and having to make it home before the sun comes back up or else I’m stuck in this weird twilight zone.” The shifting sounds of ‘Henge’ is equidistant to its themes, the mellow early evening, the late-night parties, the melancholic daybreak. Gus’ shapeshifting nature is as strong as it’s ever been, but never once loses direction or cohesion.
“My goal is for my music to be super genre-less, just all my influences being seamlessly intertwined. Dance music was one thing I definitely neglected when I started making music but fell in love shortly after. Started going to the clubs, DJing too. I had a bunch of friends making house music too,” Gus says, shining a light on some of the inspirations behind ‘Henge’. The dance influence is consistently audible across the record, from the eighties synthesisers to the hard-hitting club beats on tracks like ‘Homebody’.
Though Gus’ sound is very much his own, the polymath struggled finding his place in the musical environment around him. During his time at Drexel University, he was surrounded by fledgling hip-hop producers and rough-and-ready DIY bands. “I wasn’t really interested in either of those at that point – and I didn’t know anyone else either who was kind of interested in more of this, the vibe I was going for. It’s like singer-songwriter but produced out. Kind of pop, but not really. I just always worked with myself, I didn’t know anyone, and couldn’t afford to have someone mix my stuff so I had to do it all myself.” The lack of like-minded peers enabled Gus, arguably by accident, to become the catalyst to what we now know as ‘bedroom pop’, a stunning era that saw a myriad of artists independently tackling the entirety of a project from its inception to its production to its release. Artists like Clairo and even Billie Eilish both shared this frame of mind, transcending genre and releasing music that was as authentic as possible.
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‘Henge’ boasts a handful of well-curated features, most notably previous collaborator and New Zealand starlet BENEE. The pair joined forces on BENEE’s hit ‘Supalonely’ back in 2019, but the pair didn’t feel like that was the end for them as partners. “I felt with ‘Supalonely’ we didn’t get our fix of working together. We were just sending it over the computer. When it was done we still really wanted to work together – I had the beat for ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ and the chord progression and ended up finishing it together. I just like working with people who are peers of mine, who I get along with really well; I don’t reach out to a tonne of people. Because it’s hard for me to do one song and call it a day, I like to explore the music making process with these people a little more. It’s very, very organic.”
Whilst still beginning work on his next project (“I kind of have a plan for the next record – I’ve been pretty inspired recently!”) Gus is also gearing up for a mammoth tour later this year, across North America and Europe, closing the run with a date at London’s Islington Assembly Hall. A fitting end to what’s shaping up to be the biggest year for him to date. “I’m really excited about it. It’s really nice for people to digest it for a few months then come and see the songs live, because we’ve never had that. We’ve never had a rollout go really well. Usually, we’re touring, and stuff is coming out while on tour. Or with ‘Orca’, we put it out and toured it two years later. The Europe run is so short – but I think we’re gonna come back next year to hit some more spots. I think we’ll definitely come back and play more UK dates – for sure.”
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‘Henge’ is out now.
Words: James Mellen
