Gusgus

GusGus rank among Iceland’s most enduring and stylistically broad electronic outfits, fusing trip-hop, house, alternative dance, techno, and further strains. Breakthrough came with Polydistortion, the 4AD release from 1997 that mixed lounge, breakbeat, trance, and additional textures. Later projects such as 2002’s Attention brought greater acid house and electro leanings, after which the band settled at Kompakt for a sequence of tech-house projects highlighted by the widely praised Arabian Horse in 2011. Mobile Home, released on the group’s own Oroom imprint in 2021, united dramatic electro-house with synth pop. DanceOrama, divided between anthemic pop numbers and extended instrumentals, surfaced in 2023.

Filmmakers Stefán Árni Þorgeirsson and Sigurður Kjartansson launched the project as a cinema collective in early 1995; it soon grew to encompass musicians including DJ Magnús Guðmundsson (aka Herb Legowitz) and Þórarinsson, previously active together in the minimal house endeavor T-World, together with singer/songwriters Haraldsson, Hafdís Huld Þrastardóttir, and Magnús Jónsson, plus producer Baldur Stefánsson. This incarnation of GusGus issued their self-titled debut album independently in 1995. Positioned among the few mid-’90s acts bridging dance and indie spheres, the band secured backing from LFO via Mark Bell’s remix of “Believe” and from London’s Fat Cat Records, while performing their initial English date. Signing with 4AD followed, and the label issued Polydistortion—containing ten tracks from the debut reworked—in 1997. The more song-focused and house-centered This Is Normal arrived in 1999. Filmmakers Þorgeirsson and Kjartansson departed afterward to establish the production company Arni & Kinski. GusGus vs. T-World, centered on Guðmundsson and Þórarinsson’s prior recordings, appeared the next year and marked the final 4AD release.

Attention, issued in 2002 by Darren Emerson’s Underwater Records and the American label Moonshine Music, featured a reduced quartet that included vocalist Earth (Urður Hákonardóttir) and a tighter acid house and electro direction. Mixed Live followed a year later; new studio material returned in 2007 with Forever, issued on the Pineapple imprint and channeling acid-derived synths into streamlined dance tracks. A subsequent association with Cologne’s Kompakt label saw membership contract to a trio before expanding to a quintet, yielding the expansive 24/7 (2009), the comparatively song-driven Arabian Horse (2011), and Mexico (2014) after Birgir Þórarinsson drew notice for production on John Grant’s Pale Green Ghosts.

In 2016 GusGus became the duo of Daniel Ágúst Haraldsson and Þórarinsson. Following several years of touring, writing, and remixing, they delivered their tenth album, Lies Are More Flexible, via Oroom in 2018; half the set comprised songs with Haraldsson’s vocals and half instrumentals. Several remix EPs appeared next, after which Margrét Rán Magnúsdóttir of Vök joined in 2021 and featured on Mobile Home, which also included a guest spot from Grant. The 2022 Bolero EP presented a cover of Fancy’s 1985 Euro-disco single “Bolero (Hold Me in Your Arms Again),” again with Grant. DanceOrama, drawing on numerous ’80s and ’90s dance currents ranging from Italo-disco to trance, arrived in 2023.