Gemini Wolf - Synchronized Eyes

There are headphone albums and there are party records, and typically the two are mutually exclusive. But Gemini Wolf’s sophomore release, “Synchronized Eyes,” manages to be both. Listen closely, and there’s a dense swirl of music with plenty of layers to explore; slap it on the deck, and everyone’s sure to be moving.

Those harmonious contradictions are largely a result of the band’s “core duo” —
Mikronesia (aka Michael McDermott) is a composer and sound designer whose
electronic sounds veer between ambient soundscapes and trip-hop beats; Pandar (aka Megan Cauley) comes from a singer/song-writer background.

“On the first album,” McDermott says, “Megan wrote the songs on acoustic guitar, so I tried to layer on a lot of shifting textures on top, like a slide projector. On this album
there’s this constant pulse to everything.”

Cauley and McDermott have been casually performing together for a decade, but it wasn’t until 2006 that they assembled into an actual band. By the time they’d released their debut, “Josiah,” in 2007, Gemini Wolf was a full band, with drums, bass, and usually a str[i]ng trio or quartet. But last year, they trimmed the permanent
ranks back down to two.

“We like having the flexibility to do both,” Cauley says. “We enjoy playing small venues or art galleries, but when we’re playing Johnny Brenda’s we’re hoping that people are dancing, so it helps to have more presence.”

For this weekend’s CD release show, they’ll be supplemented by regular drummer Gary Dann, percussionist Shawn Hennessey, and horn players from the West Philadelphia Orchestra, who will be opening the show.

You could listen to Gemini Wolf’s new full-length, Synchronized Eyes, all week long and still not really be able to say what kind of band they are. We know because we just did this. But we know this much: Amidst the electronic pop and fizz banging up against the real-time instrumental and vocal vamping that brings it all together, somewhere along the line, Gemini Wolf full-on time travels. (We knew that blanket at right could do more than just fly over the suburbs.) “Sugar” invokes so many things we love it’ll be hard to get them down right here, but we’ll try: The intro vocal hook seems like it’s the too-long-in-coming response to Donna Summer’s “Love To Love You, Baby,” but then alternates into a Debbie Harry coo straight from the Autoamerican era; the wild saxes and loping instrumental passages are straight out of the Arthur Russell playbook; and that groove is straight-up “Houses In Motion.”

The second release from beaty, bouncy Philly duo Gemini Wolf, Synchronized Eyes, swims in surreal Afro-pop arrangements and sublime vocal hooks. Think of them as our own Gang Gang Dance. Or think of them as well-studied pastiche artists with sharp ears and eclectic tastes. Whichever way, their record release party is Saturday — follow the band's heed and get your vibe on.

It’s the sirenlike vocals amidst Broken Social Scene-inspired synth melodies that first give you pause. But the slow morph into a bizarre Care Bear world of unnatural cheer and bliss that follows really catches the listener’s breath. And so begins Gemini Wolf ’s second full-length album, Synchronized Eyes. The morphing and melding of genres and influences continues on the album as the band laps influences from a pool that includes !!!, Fatboy Slim, the Faint and New Order. The addition of a string quartet and Afrobeat horn sections, however, turns Synchronized Eyes into a constant bag of surprises.?

Philly duo Gemini Wolf began as the project of Michael McDermott and Megan Cauley in 2005, though the two had played together previously for years. Since then, the lineup and sound has changed. The duo turned into to an all-out band on the first release, 2007’s Josiah , and then returned to a duo the following year. McDermott says, “I think we also had a little bit of a change in the direction of our sound and we wanted to document that,” resulting in the 10-song collection on Synchronized Eyes .?

This time around, the focus is more on the electronic aspect. “We didn’t want to make a total Warp Records-type album, where it’s just itchy beats with a female singing,” McDermott explains. That’s where the Afropop comes in.?

The album features a number of guest musicians, including members of local bands Shot x Shot, Normal Love and West Philadelphia Orchestra. Since McDermott and Cauley co-run the local label earSnake—which put out both Gemini Wolf and West Philadelphia Orchestra records—the decision to add a multitude of bright, brassy horns was a bit easier.?

“We tried to have more fun and funny and dancey songs, and less serious ones. I think people have enough things to be serious about right now,” says Cauley.?