The latest EP from Gagung, a side project of Swedish experimental trio Vanligt Folk, arrives with a cryptic press release detailing “the unusual story of the disappearance and transformation of Annette.” Who is Annette, you ask? What happened to her? Her story is shrouded in mystery but Gagung reveals that she was a young girl from Sweden who went missing one late summer day. While she eventually resurfaces under the new identity of Lola White, no one truly knows what happened to her in the time between her disappearance and the discovery of her body under the overpass…
We are thus presented with Gagung’s new EP The Overpass in medias res – the strange story of Annette serving as an introduction to the equally eerie music contained therein. On the title track, Gagung envelops the listener in a swath of choral-based atmospherics, accented by a steady 4/4 beat and acid synth stabs. The result is a hypnotic blend of ramshackle, minimalist techno and club ritualism. Vanligt Folk is often heralded as “body music with a Swedish folk twist” but Gagung tends more towards the former, insofar as a sense of ingrained rhythm and primitivism pervades throughout their music. While we still don’t know exactly what happened to Annette, Gagung’s music contributes to a narrative of mystery and intrigue that leaves a lot left to the imagination.
Content Warning: The following video contains graphic and violent imagery.
Gagung – The Overpass from Gagung on Vimeo.
The Overpass is self-released on 11/05/20.