First Listen: Gossip ‘Music For Men’

First Listen: Gossip ‘Music For Men’

Beth Ditto’n’co. are back with their fourth album proper, and their first raft of new material since the international phenomena that was ‘Standing In The Way Of Control’. Recorded in Malibu with walkinglivingbreathing shoeless pot pourri-endorsing legend Rick Rubin, ‘Music For Men’ sees Beth sing instead of scowl, while a large dollop of synths is added to the mix. Hell, there’s even a saxophone…

‘Dimestore Diamond’
Kicking off with nothing but a menacing bow-be-bowp bass-line and terse snap of drums, ‘Dimestore Diamond’ is a voyeuristic sketch of an arty-farty charity shop babe. “Everybody knows/Just where she gets her clothes/A watercolour painting/In a Renoir pose” burrs Beth huskily, “A home-made haircut, but she wears it well”. The final minute is licence for Brace Paine’s guitar to add another layer to this reassuringly stompy opening salvo.

‘Heavy Cross’
At first there’s little to get excited about. A muted guitar chugs, while Beth delivers some opening “Whoo-ooohh-ohhh-oOOOhs” over the top, and then suddenly after a minute there’s an elephant-like squeal of guitar, and the addition of some subtle keyboard touches. Beth’s vocals (particularly as she wails the fresh-start mantra “If it’s already been done, undo it!”) drag ‘Heavy Cross’ from a vaguely retro mid-tempo trudge into the natural dancefloor-filling successor to ‘Standing In The Way Of Control’.

‘8th Wonder’
‘8th Wonder’ opens up with a jackhammer of stop-start guitar stutters, like the Starship Enterprise’s engine being hand-cranked by Scotty on a cold morning, before we really hear drummer Hannah Blilie opening up for the first time, like a psychotic Mitch Mitchell warming his hands at Woodstock circa the year 2342. Beth again opens her throat and howls, before the final quarter builds into a squall of disco-punk pulse-racing greatness.

‘Love Long Distance’
Eh? Piano? Or, at least, a synth set to ‘01 Piano’. Beth does her best eyelash-batting in the direction of La Roux and co, as this tale of arms-length lovin’ gone awry unfolds, “I could use a little comforting” she bellows, making us think of what one of those giant Easter Island heads would look like if it needed a cuddle. A girly, synth-laced indie-dance tune. How ‘09.

‘Pop Goes The World’
More synths on this, this time they’re pip and pop and zzzrb and prrrp like a Kitsune Compilation being played a bit too fast. Brace artfully drops some spurty strums to help guide us into a bassy-synth-drenched bridge where the still-ooooOOOhing Beth bays “For once/he can have the final say/goodbye to yesterday/cos they know we’re here to stay”, before some thumping deep-bass keys and a chorus that crows, “Pop, pop, pop, goes the world/New sensation”.

‘Vertical Rhythm’
More chukka-chukka guitar mutes, before synth strings lend the centre section a real 70s disco vibe, especially as Beth’s voice sounds stronger than ever. “You’re so conventional, it’s comical, how you always do the same thing” she lectures. This is somewhere between a Bond theme and the Noisettes’ first album, thanks to a big choppy guitar riff.

‘Men In Love’
The first verse flies at you straight over a disco post-punk groove, “I haven’t felt this way since I was seventeen/Know what I mean/Guilty of love in the first degree/Baby/Dance, like there’s nobody looking/Slide like you’re coming my way/Shake like you know what you’re doing/We’re out all night and sleep all day.” Is this Beth being cracked onto by a bloke at a disco? All she can do is bawl, “Men In Love with each other/Put your hand in mine/Come along and you’ll find/It’s the perfect crime.” Then comes a jerkingly inserted ten seconds-worth of dark introspective guitar-free end-of-the-night sadness, and suddenly it’s back to the gleeful melody again. Has she just let someone down?

‘For Keeps’
Beth plays more mind games here, alluding to “sucking dick” and that “emotions are irrational” but that “to ignore them would be critical”. She sounds fed up and betrayed as she croons on the chorus, “I don’t wanna play for keeps any more… I’ve heard it once I’ve heard it all before”.

‘2012’
Immediately ‘2012’ is flecked with dirt, thanks chiefly to a bassline that’s racing through the alleys and crackhouses. It’s like Debbie Harry being bundled into a van and taken off to some backstreet warehouse in Hackney. Brace drops more carefully positioned flourishes of (this time acoustic-sounding) guitar, while Ditto’s choral-trance chant of, “My heart may never beat again, baby/Have you got the best of me?” is backed by her own well-placed “Ooh, Ooh” harmonies.

‘Love And Let Love’
Here are more signs that Beth isn’t quite as comfortable with the spotlight as she’d like us to think, as ‘Love And Let Love’ opens up with the lines, “There are pictures of me, around your room/You come on strong, too much too soon/And unfortunately, I’m not amused/Don’t get me wrong, don’t get confused.” She sounds even more mournful as the chorus comes around (“This is the last time I love and let love.” She laments), but as the song draws to a close above a swell of moodily increasing synth-attacks, she looks forward to the promise of “February where the ocean meets the sun”.

‘Four Letter Word’
Another garage-synth turn. Blilie’s drums sound almost entirely programmed, and the sub-woofer-cracking bass-synths are out in force once more. Beth warbles neatly over the top, but we can’t see this being a live favourite, as it’s too slow moving, even with the added bonus of a Beth’n’Hannah harmony-outro.

‘Spare Me From The Mold’
The shortest track on the album. This is more like old-time Gossip. Beth sounds throatier, and there’s an air of desperation to the way she pants in question/answer with Brace’s frenetic guitar chops. There’s even a saxophone that raises its head halfway through and punches an almost funky hole through the wall of hip-twitching garage dance.