UNICORN

Product Information

The saxophone work by Tim Capello is stunning with collaboration also with the legendary John Carpenter. GUNSHIP’s self-titled album from 2015 has been in near constant rotation for eight years and its nostalgia-driven neon atmosphere is both warm and inviting from start to finish. Neon laser light cuts through the deepest darkness on this contemplation of Imagination and how it may be our most important resource. Unicorn is quite the accomplishment in scope, guests, atmosphere, sex appeal, and general badassery.

This is an act that is apt at reaching into the inspiration junk drawer and always finding a handful of ideas that will suit their needs.Here, you’ve got John Carpenter, Tim Cappello, Tyler Bates and Carpenter Brut, the appearance of all of whom feel like a roundabout way of Gunship legitimising what they’re doing without the need to stake much of a claim themselves. They’re simply just parts of an objectively impressive array of guests, plugged into place with barely a thought given to what uniqueness they could possibly bring. The review consistently leans towards negative commentary, and the language used suggests a level of personal frustration or disappointment with the album. It just leads to an album that drags incessantly, not helped by how little variation there is the chugging synth progressions. Of course, there’s plenty of saxophone; it’s more prominent in some songs than others, especially the aforementioned ‘Empress of the Damned’ and late album sleeper hit ‘Nuclear Date Night’ where alongside a bluesy solo, there’s some downright stunning hooks that’ll leave grins plastered across faces in jazzy ecstasy.

I’ve always considered GUNSHIP to be at the top of their class and one of the premier acts of their genre and Unicorn does nothing but prove this further. British masters of futuristic dark retrowave/synthrock with the next mighty release, driving, nuanced and catchy as it should be. One of the clever ways that this is accomplished is of course is using their impressive guest list – who are very often fixtures from the past – to embrace what the future holds. This chorus to this track owes me months of back rent but keeps invoking squatter’s rights as it kicks every other song to the curb when its territory is encroached upon. Their restlessness is nothing but a benefit for us as this record is a warm welcome back and quite the treat for those of us that have been waiting for years for that neon and chrome synthwave that they are so adept at creating.

It’s not just her voice though, that propels the song but the appearance of some downright glorious saxophone midway through for a, dare we say it, sexy solo. I mean, there isn't much else to say - if you liked some of the songs on their first two albums, then you'll definitely like some of the tracks on this one. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. If that’s the intent, then obviously Unicorn is a roaring success, but empty-calorie nostalgia-baiting with nothing beneath the shiny, neon veneer is obviously not a good outcome.

At over an hour, Gunship are asking for a lot of your time with Unicorn , especially when its second half is truly trounced by its exemplary first half. While critical reviews are a common part of music journalism, a more balanced and objective approach would provide a fairer assessment for readers. Due to inventory and accounting purposes, we do not exchange items received for different items than originally purchased.It’s all incredibly similar stuff all over the place, from the analogue synths to the gated percussion, to the saxophone that trails through about half-a-dozen songs here, and sounds more perfunctory every single time. I’m not exactly sure what the connection to synthwave is for those of us that generally enjoy the heavier genres. HAHAHA, how much nonsense I’ve read today, in fact, I didn’t even get halfway through your text, you didn’t use a single valid argument, just spewed your personal taste, terrible review. I think looking back in 5-10 years this album will pale in comparison when compared to the first two.