Gayngs' debut album -- and the whole reason for the existence of the group as such -- sometimes feels like an end result in search of a justification, but does so in attractive enough fashion, overseen by Ryan Olson with the help of
Solid Gold members Zack Coulter and Adam Hurlburt. With 25 participating performers (credits include members of
Megafaun,
Bon Iver, and Rhymesayers, among others), a rule of a constant bpm per song (69), and stated inspiration resting in
10cc's still strangely wonderful art pop statement of hate "I'm Not in Love,"
Relayted revels from the start in its form-follows-function feeling, somewhere between exquisite corpse and soul revue for a bedroom setting. The slow flow established by the opening "The Gaudy Side of Town" and maintained by understated fragments tying together song for song dominates, but each individual piece brings up a different twist or turn, whether in something like the bold smack of the drums on "The Walker," the electro R&B meets clavinet funk moodiness of "Crystal Rope," or the synth pop sweetness of "Faded High." Meanwhile, the
Godley & Creme tribute defining the whole album gets its clearest expression thanks to a cover of that duo's equally entrancing and strange pop hit from a decade later, "Cry." With a slower pace and dreamier, echo-laden feeling than the original, guitars sounding somewhere between
Morricone and
the Cocteau Twins, it's an inspired nod back to a still underrated team of artists that works equally well on its own. ~ Ned Raggett