May 2010

If Gayngs were a baseball team, they would be the New York Yankees. And Ryan Olson would be the General Manager. Olson, the top producer on the group’s debut album, spared nothing when he collected the who’s who of Minneapolis musical talent and plopped them in the center of the coolest/weirdest collaboration this city has possibly ever seen.

Gayngs’ debut album is a collection of eleven songs encapsulated in an overall air of nostalgic sexiness. I see this album as a crossing that links different characters, telling their story with their own brand of music, to an overall idea that it’s all somehow Relayted. Whether you’re in a New Orleans Jazz Club, the First Avenue Mainroom, or backwoods Wisconsin all eleven songs on this album sound like they were made to be listened to in that setting.

The album’s lead track and first single starts this “journey” on The Gaudy Side of Town, which shows off Zach Coulter of Solid Gold’s take on a cool jazz/Phil Collins sound. From there we start to travel with The Walker, who is set to declare that “Baby I’m On My Way.”  The end of the track takes a turn from droning mystery to a glitter-pop lick that sounds like it could’ve been used on an early Mariah Carey album.

While the talent of the songwriters included on Relayted is of no question, there are times where this album seems a bit forced. False Bottom seemed to be a filler track that didn’t add much substance other than a decent transition between the full-blown jazz horn/dark soul vocals of No Sweat and the obscurity from The Beatdown, which proclaims, “I will die young.” In the spirit of the 80’s influence throughout this album, could that be a subtle wink at Billy Joel?

Relayted reaches it’s highest points of musicality and sexuality with stand-out track Faded High, which starts with a basic synth and click track that sounds like it’s straight off a Dr. Beat. It pulls you in when the female vocals kick in about 30 seconds. In this track, we’ve moved away from the pornish sounds of Crystal Rope and gone straight into sexual tension. The line “I want you on me” says just about all of it, but the R&B vocals halfway through add another layer that show us sex is not the only desire here.

The Last Prom on Earth is the final track on the album, and may be my favorite only because of the tugging keyboard opening mixed with the sounds of what I can only picture as a Blue-leisure-suit-wearing Ivan Howard at an 80’s prom. If there was ever a song where you asked your prom date if tonight was “the night,” this is it. It’s the image of Napoleon Dynamite at the school dance meets a teenager who puts in Kenny G and lights candles for his girlfriend the weekend his parents are away. Last Prom comes right up to the cusp of cheesy, but shies away and ends up landing on somewhere on sentimental.

Relayted is, at best, the music you want to hear when the future is so uncertain it has you looking to the past for reassurance. At worst, the music you want to look back on for a laugh. While this album lies closer to the former it needs to tip toe around the cheese to be the piece of work it became. What works best is Ryan Olson’s ability to take these talented musicians and put them in a new element. Gayngs has made an album that might not feed into your every desire, but will certainly keep you listening, if for no other reason than to imagine a romantic night, a lustful night, or a lonely night.

Gayngs – Faded High

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