When I was a kid I used to listen to bands like GOSA in a local Boy Scouts Hut in North Manchester. The wholesome ‘Akela’ (Junior Leader) would charge us 10 shillings (50 pence) to get in and then slip away to buy some weed off a local motorcycle gang.
The bands made a lot of noise – they were the equivalent of what would now be called ‘noise bands’ I suppose. Their songs rambled on for ages, and you couldn’t understand the lyrics or even hear what they were singing about half the time above the general cacophony.
But every song was accompanied by non-stop head banging and everybody had a great time. Occasionally, as a bonus you met some ‘Brownies’ (girls) and less frequently there might be a quick ‘how’s your father’ behind the bike sheds. (I hope the Nordic readers are ‘getting’ these idioms).
Fast forward a decade or two (ha!) and I’m gratified to hear that bands like that still exist, even if they are in another country altogether.
There’s nothing posh or detached about GOSA (which means Cuddle) and even less so with ‘Emellanåt’ (‘Sometimes’ or ‘Occasionally’).
A beat that’s not so much a case of ‘driving’ as racing a Formula 1 car. Two conflicting melody lines on rhythm and lead guitars. Sparse homely vocals interspersed by occasional manic shrieks. A change of gauge into a bridge that might be King Crimson with a spoken vocal that sounds like Greta lecturing the United Nations from her Dutch prison cell. “How dare you?”
A psychic side trip into the Twilight Zone, a sultry section that might be a survivor of French yé-yé. And enough cowbell to keep you going until the cows come home. It’s all here. Oh, and it isn’t your three minute AI generated radio selection either. You get a full six and a half minutes for your money and it’s all au naturel.
I read in the press release that GOSA is part of a “liberating wave of new, live electrically charged guitar rock that is currently sweeping across Sweden”. Well bring it on and even if you have to watch it in a Scout Hut.
Their forthcoming album ‘Emellanåt’ will be released later this spring.
GOSA is: Elda Lindström (vocals), Åke Lindgård (guitar), Oscar Lilja (bass) and Svante Rörbecker (drums).
Find them on:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gosa_med_insta
