'Gold' took form slowly over several months spent rewriting and reworking; half created at home in the middle of London and half during two solitary trips to Devon, where many of the songs found their inspiration. In need of some space, away from a shared house that had just been through a pandemic together as well as from a relationship that was coming to an end, she travelled to the south-west. It was here that she would get the bulk of her writing done, recognising there were some things she would have to work through alone, and in no small part it came to her in the form of a torrential storm. Bringing the album back to London, Tusks partnered with producer Tom Andrews to bring the tracks to life from studios like Ten87 in Tottenham and SS2 Recording in Southend.
Synth-heavy and fuelled by emotionally charged layers of heavenly vocal harmonies, the album is densely constructed, meticulously produced and cathartic. Across ten tracks of deeply resonant electronic pop, the soundscapes crafted here sway from the blissful, ambient and thought-provoking, to slow-building ragers. Through pressure and release, 'Gold' explores dynamics, nuances and emotions using an array of atmospheric and kinetic textures as well as Tusks’ singular, powerful voice.
“A lot of this album was inspired by contrasting experiences” Underhill explains, “Processing a breakup and then falling in love again. Being constantly surrounded by people in lockdown, then suddenly being completely alone and free. Being in the city vs being in nature. We wanted to echo these contrasts in the production of the music so constantly moved between lo-fi and hi-fi production - sampling our own drum beats, recording them through compressed tin can mics and processing through loads of analogue gear and a 404 then switching to cleaner, larger sounding kits achieved by recording with mics in back rooms and the ceiling to give the impression of space. There was a huge analogue influence on the production and mix too by using loads of analogue synths and modular, putting a lot of the stems through tape and getting to be really creative with using delay throws and feedback on the 501 Space Echo. It was such a fun process and allowed Tom and I to delve into doing exactly what we love.”
The album continues its excursion further, with epic and dreamlike musicality that soars upwards. On tracks like ‘Adore’ and ‘Artificial Flame’ it’s used to examine two opposite ends of the partnership spectrum; “Adore is about falling in love with someone at the start of a relationship when you're asking yourself if it’s a good idea, if you should fall for that person or whether you should keep yourself guarded. Artificial Flame is about the point I'd also realised I was no longer in love with my partner at the time. It’s about coming to that realisation and processing it.” It was while thunder rolled and rain poured outside that Underhill was able to deal with some of these things, “I didn’t really speak to anyone for days, and the storm came over. Weirdly, that ended up inspiring the chorus hook because I couldn’t light a fire without using a load of firelighters, which then made this massive green flame. I was kinda staring at it, then the phrase Artificial Flame popped into my head and seemed to sum up everything I was feeling.”
Delving into the technicals of the record allowed for further experimentation across the board, for example they were able to lift parts out of songs and into others where they saw fit, adding thematic continuity and patchworking ideas they felt had value. A discarded brass recording from ‘Read The Room’ was sampled and added to ‘Tainted Plates’. They also played with processing through tape and 404 to retain the lo-fi quality Tusks was adamant in keeping throughout.
'Gold' Tracklist
1. Wake
2. Adore
3. Artificial Flame
4. Tainted Plates
5. The Way
6. Read The Room
7. Strangers
8. Gold
9. Body Ache
10. Cold Storm
Live Shows:
Supporting Tinlicker;
Fri 8 Mar – Belgium, Antwerp - Trix
Sat 9 Mar – Netherlands, Amsterdam - Gashoude
Tusks Online
