Gush, family fashion

French pop in English

Paris 

25/06/2010 - 

Four family members are pumping some fresh air into French pop rock. Gush, who sprang onto the live scene last year, will be one of the attractions at the Solidays festival this weekend. Another step up the fame ladder for this quartet, who’ve been around for six years but only brought out their first album, Everybody’s God, in February. Their collective energy and distinctive vocal harmonies make the group well worth discovering.

Although many hadn’t heard of them before the last Rock en Seine festival, Gush are no newcomers to music. They were still teenagers when Xavier Polycarpe (bass, keyboards and voice) and his brother Vincent (drums, voice) first started playing together. The two self-confessed “Beatles fans” strummed out most of their favourite band’s repertoire in the lounge of the family home in Versailles.

The duo were quickly joined by their cousin Mathieu (guitar, keyboards and voice) and then Yan (guitar, voice), whose father was in a now-forgotten French pop group, Week-end Millionnaire, in the late seventies.

As well as sharing some genes, the four young men all claim to have been “marked for life” by the vocal harmonies of the Beatles and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. “We haven’t stopped singing since. And each time, it’s a huge joy.”

From then on, the quartet started performing concert after concert. “We played Bob Marley, Marvin Gaye and Otis Redding covers, in any venue we could, including the Metro and betting shop bars.” Their tough experience gave them a chance to perfect what now gives them their charm: their harmonious singing voices, and the way they mix fervour with vocal precision – a technique that until now seemed to be reserved to British and American groups.

Right from their difficult beginnings, the band’s members have always widely lent their talents to other artists, like Emma Daumas, Izia “a close friend of the group” (Vincent was her drummer), and the singer Adanowsky, whom Gush backed on his last tour.

Added soul

The speed moved up a notch last year with their first prestigious support jobs (-M-,  Julien Doré) and the recording of their first album, which perfectly reflects the group’s progression towards their current combination of styles. “A while ago, our sound was a lot more rock than it is now. We’ve added some soul and folk to our songs.”

The album is gushing with North-American influences. From Let’s Burn Again (and its Stevie Wonder-style keyboard work) to the final very gospel-sounding a capella (Jealousy). The quartet (who sing in perfect English) have a taste for sixties pop tunes, illustrated by the accomplished No Way. Whether the album dapples with folk, dance electro, or rock, the band’s own vibrant, ecstatic identity is always apparent. “We are essentially self-taught”, explain Gush. And we can all learn something from listening to them.

Gush Everybody’s God (Cinq 7/Wagram) 2010
On tour all round France and in Paris on 27 June (Solidays)

Jérôme  Pichon

Translation : Anne-Marie  Harper