Concert Review: GUM Shows Genius Stands Alone At Baby’s All Right
Seeing GUM, at Baby’s All Right, alone on stage to become a one-man orchestra made me feel like I was watching the most talented, coolest kid at the talent show. Sure, he is no kid, but you cannot deny that when you see someone as multi-talented and creative as Jay Watson, a.k.a. GUM, he or she becomes ageless. You cannot put time on someone that feels like a moment.
Every key GUM pressed, every chord he strummed, and every note he hit felt like a layer of his genius. The crowd cheered, danced under little, starlights that sprinkled over them, and watched in awe as this one man displayed his imagination. GUM is apart of inadvertent, Australian triumvirate of psych-rockers that stemmed from Kevin Parker’s Tame Impala. First, came Nick Albrook’s Pond and then Jay Watson’s GUM. It a circle of Aussie musicians that support each other, and understand that everybody wants to be their own leader. Why? Because, as GUM showed, we all have our own set of dreams, but we do not always have the tools to display them.
In between tracks “Gemini” and “Ophelia”, I realized that instruments really are tools. This is obvious, but the way GUM plays songs like, “S.I.A / The Fear” and “The Blue Marble”, you feel awakened by how he sees music as a key to his mind’s door rather his mind as a key to music. Every song is a chance for him to display a groovy thought that otherwise would have been mute or failed in splendor had he not added a guitar melody to support it. His instruments speaks as much as his warm, higher voice. Hence, why his show, like his album The Underdog, felt like a buffet line of soundscapes asking you, “How do you wish to be fed?”
GUM’s concerts are one of the best to be seen for two reasons. The first is if you are as big a fan of psych-rock as I am, then you need to see a member of The “Aussie Psych-Rock Triumvirate”. The second reason is, beyond his show being entertaining, it is impressive. I can barely boil water without screwing it up, but this guy holds lyrics, instruments, thoughts, feelings, and overall human/ orchestra compositions, all at once and with warmth, to hand it over to you. In some ways, he is a lesson on why genius is alone but never lonely. He may only have himself to play, but people will always show up to see him do it. For More Information On GUM Click Here.
