Songs In The Key Of GDVRDGDVR. GDVRDGDVR

This is the kind of album that falls in with the door. Not a lot of subtleties, no niceties, no beating about the bush. GDVRDGDVR plays its alternative rock music like it should in this line of the business: loud, rough and wild.

GDVRDGDVR or GDDMNTLL in plain English, a word that escaped my Australia born mother every once in a while when we kids were really testing her patience so to say and we instantly and instinctively new this was the word to use, is a Dutch duo from Amsterdam. Hester den Boer en Harmen Kuiper (Chinup, The Slow Clock) are a folkduo, sure, who traded in the acoustics for a drums and a bass. Together they race through the 16 songs on GDVRDGDVR. If a song makes two minutes than it's long on this album. It's all about making a statement and run. Like a Ukrainian unit fires an advanced rocket and scoots, GDVRDGDVR fires its songs at the listener and is up for the next one before you know it.

Expect not only speed and onslaught. The duo does put some air in some of the songs. More by default than intention is my guess. Being recorded in a lo-fi manner, what is played is what you hear. A battered drumkit, and a raging and distorted or less raging and/or not distorted bass guitar. Either Hester of Harmen sings lead. Don't expect subtle harmonies or something. The song is over before you can get around to something as delicate as that. It's all about impact here.

Promo photo: Jaap Elzenga

If anything, I'm surprised that I like the album as much as I do. With a band like Royal Blood I was over the hype and gimmick quite fast and never really got into any of the other bass-drums duo's. With GDVRDGDVR it is different. The duo does not seek a compromise or a pleasing factor. This album is take it or leave it. And I'm taking, thank you.

What gets me, is that both Harmen and Hester are not young musicians. They have a history behind them. Yet, GDVRDGDVR sounds like it's a duo of 18 year olds recording their first songs. This is all enthusiasm, not holding back and not spending more that a split second on what someone else might find of what they are doing. On top of it all, behind it all, are the songs. The pop feel, the harmonic prowess and the fun, loads of it!

GDVRDGDVR is one fine record. Just go with its flow and find yourself at the end of the rollercoaster or the gorge exhilarated. GDVRDGDVR is that kind of record, yes.

Wout de Natris

You can order and listen to GDVRDGDVR here:

https://godverdegodver.bandcamp.com/releases