“I genuinely believe that this is the best record we’ve ever made,” says Felix. It looks like another epic journey is just about to begin…More expansive and ambitious than ever before, Gengahr are a band reborn. A testament to going it alone, “Sanctuary” is the experimental North London alt-pop four-piece’s finest body of work to date, a DIY triumph which welcomes old friend Jack Steadman of Bombay Bicycle Club as producer, adding his distinct brand of symphonic sparkle to Gengahr’s complex, layered sound.
Born of an epic journey, the follow-up to their acclaimed 2015 debut A Dream Outside and 2018’s Where Wildness Grows sees songwriter Felix Bushe tapping into personal pain but coming out fighting.
Mixed by the hugely in-demand Nathan Boddy (James Blake, Nilufer Yanya, Shame), Sanctuary runs the full gamut of human feeling, with the disco-inflected ‘Heavenly Maybe’ heavy with ennui as well as a powerful melody, detailing Felix’s experience of partying in order to distract him from his real life problems, while the soaring ‘Icarus’ sees him further opening up about the “world of pain” in which he found himself. Yet the beautiful, twinkling ‘Moonlight’ hints at a positive future. “I do want the album to be hopeful and ‘Moonlight’ is all about that,” he explains. “It’s a harmonious ending of unison and togetherness.” Written while in Vietnam with his wife, its lyrics turn Felix’s self-doubt into a lush, low-key eulogy for the bad times.
“I genuinely believe that this is the best record we’ve ever made,” says Felix. It looks like another epic journey is just about to begin…
The Fat Angel Sings 