Guster!

I’ve been threatening to start a thread on Guster for at least a couple of years. Since no one’s beaten me to it, here goes…

Guster was formed in 1991 when Ryan Miller, Adam Gardner and Brian Rosenworcel met as freshmen at Tufts University. The trio was originally called, simply, Gus, but another band had claim to that name, so they tacked the “ter” onto their moniker.

Originally a trio consisting of acoustic guitars and hand-played percussion, their sound and arrangements changed over the years, encompassing a broader range of instruments and textures. Multi-instrumentalist Joe Pisapia joined unofficially during the sessions for their 4th album. He later was made an official member, and stayed with the group until late last year, when he left to join forces with k.d. lang. Prior to his departure he built his own recording studio in Nashville, and there the band recorded much of their 6th and most recent full-length album, Easy Wonderful. It remains to be seen how his departure will affect the band and their direction. Pisapia is extremely talented and will surely be missed. At this time, the band has planned to replace him on subsequent tours with guitarist Luke Reynolds.

Guster’s songs have always been grounded in layered textures of guitars, whether acoustic or electric, and other instruments like piano, banjo and horns. Rosenworcel has largely abandoned his hand-percussion style of drumming and now uses a standard kit. It may have been an artistic decision, or, as I suspect, he may have seen an arthritic future looming ahead. In fact, there is a scene in their live concert DVD Guster on Ice: Live from Portland, Maine in which he is seen backstage, supergluing together the split, bleeding skin of his fingers. Lead vocals are shared by Miller and Gardner, and while the songwriting credits list the entire band as composer, I suspect that the two of them are, respectively, the primary writers on the songs each one sings. The songs are often quirky, with slightly off-kilter topics and frequently dwell on their seemingly recent adolescent past. Others are deliberately obscure. They are almost always fun, which is something I can’t say about all bands. These guys sound like they enjoy what they’re doing. Harmonies are rich and textured, and frequently feature counter-singing.

The band never fails to be hugely entertaining in concert. The aforementioned DVD gives a good representation, but in the end is no substitute for seeing them in person. I’ve seen them 4 times, and each time they do something unusual. Sometimes it’s including an unlikely cover song, like Barroso and Russell’s “Brazil” or the Talking Heads’ “(Nothing but) Flowers.” Other times I have seen them bring someone up from the audience to play with them on a song, though I imagine this has been prearranged. They are extremely good at what they do, and are, in a word, a blast to see perform. They’ve even joined with Bare Naked Ladies as the centerpieces of a couple of music-centric Caribbean cruises.

Discussions of individual albums follows...

The first album, Parachute, recorded during the members’ junior year at Tufts, was released in 1994, and contains consistently good, if relatively simple acoustic numbers. They hadn’t quite found their vocal comfort zones; the singing on this album is the least like all the others. Harmonies are fairly simple and predictable. Still, it’s pleasantly atmospheric in its production, and it was effective as an introduction to the world, though I wouldn’t recommend it to people coming to the band for the first time now. They’ve produced much stronger work in the years since.


Goldfly was the band’s second record and was released in 1996. This album was largely responsible for their signing with Sire Records. With this record their vocals have solidified, though the harmonies are still fairly predictable. Miller’s and Gardner’s voices are recognizably distinct from one another, something that is refreshing to hear, and which is one of the consistent characteristics of all the subsequent albums with the exception of Easy Wonderful (more on that later). The songs are richer and more complex in their structure, a measure of growth that will continue through the next several records. Instrumentation is still largely acoustic, but layers of shimmering electrics are added throughout. They also begin to experiment with dynamic contrast, something that later became something of a signature device. AMG describes the effect as it’s used on the album opener, “Great Escape,” as “drifting in like a distant storm, this cryptic offering erupts into a seething and impressively arranged explosion.” Indeed, several songs begin very quietly and grow in breadth, depth and volume, with the addition of instruments and vocals, to reach their inevitable climax and collapse. The album includes a number of songs that remain concert favorites, including “Demons” and “Airport Song,” the latter of which frequently causes audience members to throw ping-pong balls on stage, an act that is apparently inspired by the fact that the sound of a ping-pong game can be heard as the song fades out on the record.


Lost and Gone Forever, released in 1999, is generally credited as the band's "breakout" album, and it was my first introduction to them, when they were recommended to me by someone on the Toad the Wet Sprocket listserve mailing list as a band to fill the void that Toad’s breakup was leaving (while I’ll forever be grateful for the tip, in retrospect it’s kind of laughable, as the two bands really have nothing in common). The songs on this album are much richer in composition and production than anything the band had done before, and are all consistently high quality. Counter singing is introduced extremely effectively in the opener, “What You Wish For.” Song topics are all over the map, from celebrity idolization to sibling rivalry (with a heavy-handed hint at fratricide). All in all, an extremely enjoyable album, and one of my 2 or 3 favorites.


If Lost and Gone Forever was the beginning of “modern” Guster, 2003’s Keep It Together, their 4th full-length release, showed them taking that sound and running with it, fleshing it out completely with an even broader range of instruments and vocal textures, and solidifying the sometimes unusual vocal harmonies they do so well. It also represented a maturing of their songwriting, with the numbers having real polish in their structure and balance. Some might think this is a two-edged sword, that this professionalism smacks a little of commercially slick compositions. I happened to enjoy it immensely, and don’t see it that way. They remain a quirky band with quirky songs, but have outgrown a writing style that could seem a little too “stream-of-consciousness.” AMG describes it as the band displaying their “formerly hidden well-adjusted side.” They also continue to experiment with dynamic contrast, this time in the songs “Come Downstairs and Say Hello” and “Red Oyster Cult," in which they get even louder. On the other side of the coin, they have the acoustic guitar and banjo-based “Jesus on the Radio,” which features all four band members on drop-dead beautiful harmonies. This number is frequently performed live in concert sans amplification, as the band stands at the very edge of the stage. This is another of my favorite albums.


2006's Ganging Up on the Sun shows the band at full-stride in their musical maturation. In many ways it’s a continuation of the previous album, with songs even more harmonically complex and interesting, with more layered production, and even greater contrasts. As for this last trait, they’re at their peak on the 7+ minute long “Ruby Falls.” With this song, according to AMG’s Tim Sendra, the band “could teach Coldplay a thing or two about drama and dynamic tension.” Acoustic guitars are largely abandoned in favor of electrics throughout the production, with the result being as far-distanced from their debut album as they’ve ever gotten. But still, they do it incredibly well. Catchy tunes abound, as well as crashing guitar chords. Immense fun to listen to, especially loudly.


The most recent full-length release, Easy Wonderful, finds the band back at their roots in terms of instrumentation and production, but with the more interesting and complex song structures and harmonies that their audience has come to expect from recent releases. Electrics are now largely gone (though they’re still used effectively, if sparingly, in “Jesus and Mary”). Ryan Miller is quoted in an interview in Acoustic Guitar magazine, describing the band’s evolution in sound, and songwriting: “It was really the defining characteristic of our band for those first three records: strummy acoustic guitar and hand percussion. I just felt like I couldn’t approach music that way anymore. I felt like I was going to keep writing the same song…We didn’t want to be a novelty band – there was this moment I remember, when we put in the liner notes for Lost and Gone Forever: ‘All the drums used were hit by hands. No sticks!’ I remember thinking, ‘Who gives a shit?’” He goes on to talk about their return to acoustics, saying, “I really was uninspired by the acoustic guitar for a good, long time…that’s not really true anymore. Just getting instruments – acoustic instruments, specifically – was really helpful with the formation of this record. I think we’re coming back to a happy medium…Some people may feel that we’ve gotten more generic with our sound, and I’m sure that’s true in some ways, but that’s not our mission – our mission is not to be unusual, it’s to be great.” And it’s a great album. My only quibble with it is the song selection. If you get the standard, 12-song release that’s available in stores, there isn’t a single song with Adam Gardner singing lead. You have to get the version with 15 tracks that the band sold through their website to hear 2 of his songs, plus one additional Ryan Miller song. If, as I suspect, the lead vocal is typically done by the song’s primary composer, I hope this isn’t an indication that there’s any friction in the band. The other troublesome aspect of having a version with the extra tracks (besides the fact that not everyone will have access to these songs) is that all three of them are great, and it bothers me to think that they (or any other worthy song) might have ended up on the editing room floor. What a waste that would be.

In between these releases, Guster has been active in producing a variety of EPs and live records:

The WBR Sessions:


Satellite EP:


MTV2 Covers, featuring Guster performing “Blister in the Sun”:


Love Guster, Don’t Eat Them:


Guster Live in Knoxville, TN:

Dude, epic thread! Just caught this! If I wasn't about an hour from sleep and I could focus better I'd read this now but I'll be back for it later. Don't hesitate to drop some tunes in between then and now! Always nice to see you Craig!

I was having a little trouble inserting this first video earlier, let's see if it's working now. Here's one of them performing "Jesus on the Radio" live, very much like they tend to do at shows, completely acoustically:



And one of my favorite songs from Keep It Together, "Ramona":



And another favorite of mine, from Lost and Gone Forever, "Happier." Contrary to the image in this video, this recording is from the album, and not the live DVD (though the song is in fact performed on the DVD).



And a great live video of another favorite of mine. This one starts quietly and builds, and is so worth the wait. "Come Downstairs and Say Hello"



The first single from the new album:



And what's probably the loudest (i.e., most electric) of the songs on the new album (I can't speak to the strange content of the video):



And finally, the first Guster song I ever heard, the one that opens the Lost and Gone Forever album. It's remained one of my favorites as well. Note the use of counter-singing in the second verse, starting around 0:58 or so:

This thread is like a major volcanic eruption for Craig...he ticks along quietly and then "Boom!", out comes a dissertation about a band I have heard about but really never gave much thought to.

I'll be back later to give it a thorough perusal, nice to see you on speaking terms with your muse again Craig.

Lord Grendel said:

This thread is like a major volcanic eruption for Craig...he ticks along quietly and then "Boom!", out comes a dissertation about a band I have heard about but really never gave much thought to.

I'll be back later to give it a thorough perusal, nice to see you on speaking terms with your muse again Craig.

Click to expand...

I try to post at least as often as there are major shifts in the earth's techtonic plates.

(Apologoes to anyone who may not see the humor in that right now)

Guster deserves way more attention than they get.