From a snowboarder career to a nomadic psych-pop musician, Gus Englehorn is one of these creative talents whose music sounds like a fantastical fable. From his native Alaska to Utah to Québec to Portland to Hawaii to his current home, Englehorn is ultimately a citizen of his own planet. Critically acclaimed, the singer-songwriter spent much of his life as a professional snowboarder, but always dreamed of writing songs. Accompanied by his wife Estée Preda, his major collaborator with whom he produces his albums and creates music videos, his approach is visceral, subconscious and much like his snowboarding career, risk-taking and unapologetic. Dadaism, alienation, childhood memories, autism and surrealism are all inspirations for Englehorn’s creative process and his brand new album “The Hornbook” out on January 31 via Secret City Records is the proof of his unique universe.
To celebrate this release, he curates an exclusive playlist of tracks which inspired him during the process of making that new project, which is one of his best pieces of work to date.
Donovan – Guinevere
As I go through the process of writing an album, which I’ve done 3 times now, it always seems that certain defining undercurrents arise and direct me on my way. For The Hornbook it became apparent about halfway through that nearly all the songs were interested in telling stories, especially stories with a medieval tone and a sheen of psychedelia and it doesn’t get any more psychedelic than Donovan in my book. He’s the king, long live the king!
Simon & Garfunkel – Scarborough fair
Paul Simon was another songwriter who was obviously interested in medieval melodies and poetry when he did his adaptation of the medieval poem Scarborough Fair. I had never done an adaptation myself before I wrote the song Thyme but I found it to be a thrilling experience collaborating with an unknown poet who lived 400 hundred years ago. In my version, the protagonist travels back in time to Scarborough Fair in a time machine. If I could go anywhere in a time machine, Scarborough Fair would be it.
David Bowie – Space Oddity
And that brings me to Space Oddity, which inspiration-wise I sort of jammed together with Scarborough Fair to create the aforementioned sci-fi medieval ballad. It seems like themes of isolation always pop up when I’m writing songs. Maybe I should get out more.
Beck – Asshole
There’s so much power, freedom and joy to be had in not caring and Beck’s philosophy of “look how much fun I’m having’’ has always been a very inspirational ethos to me, something I try to follow in everything I do. For being known as a slacker, he sure wrote a lot of albums with a lot of songs on them and this is one of my favorites.
Beastie Boys – Sabotage
Sometimes I can get so caught up in dynamics and nuance and whenever I listen to this song I realize sometimes you gotta just put the pedal to the metal. Big inspiration for Metal Detector. Also it makes me feel like you can make a hit singing really high and nasally which gives me hope.
Neil Young – Powderfinger
I love the duality of his catalogue. How he can write the best folk rock you ever heard and then turn around and blow your socks off with his electric guitar. And there’s always so much humanity and rawness in everything he does and anything lacking those two elements, I can’t connect with.
B-52s – Private Idaho
The impetuosity of the B-52s is wonderful to behold in your ears. It’s a runaway freight train that ain’t stopping for nothing! It builds and builds and makes you want to dance and think at the same time. I love their song structures and they’re a great inspiration for me.
Violent Femme – Add it up
The Violent Femmes pedal in brilliant storytelling and there’s always a surprise around every corner. One of my all time favorite bands, with one of the best rhythm sections there ever was. Everything sticks together, the music serves the lyrics and the lyrics give meaning to the riffs. A completely symbiotic musical outfit that was born to play together.
Jacques Brel – Quand on a que l’amour
The Brelien crescendo: inspiration to David Bowie, is one of the most beautiful and powerful dynamics a song can strive for. Why loop back around when you can shoot straight up into the stratosphere telling us all something about ourselves along the way. A big inspiration for Roderick Of The Vale, I usually try to conform to the verse-chorus type of structure but throwing that out of the window can be wonderfully freeing.
Neutral Milk Hotel – King of Carrot Flowers Pts. 2 & 3
One of the best ways to start out a song is to shout something out at the top of your lungs that is sure to get everyone’s attention and thoroughly shock them. And this is one of the best first lines in music history because of how it’s sung. Which is also something I’m always reminded of every time I listen to Jeff Mangum: the incredible expressive capabilities of the human voice.
