Thank God for family! My nephew is the person that introduced me to the music of Guranfoe. Based in Norwich in the UK, Guranfoe deliver complex, ultra-melodic prog that will fill your face with smiles. Check out their Bandcamp page here : Guranfoe Their latest release is Gumbo Gumbo and drummer Joe Burns takes us through it track by track...

Track 1: Intro
JB: The origins of this material dates back to the start of the band in 2012 when we were first getting together and starting to write our own stuff. That's why the record is called Gumbo Gumbo, as we were called Gumbo Variation between 2012-2015. This record is a culmination of that early material.

Track 2: Aravalli Wood
JB: We actually recorded a different tune for the opening of the album but decided during the mixing stage to scrap it and open with this. It's a super energetic beginning and invigorating way to kick it off. Most of the first half of this is new material written in the months prior to recording in August 2020, but the back minute or two dates to 2012. This is one of the three original tunes we played at our first-ever gig. This track features vocal lines by our good friend Rob Baker, who recorded most of the album at his studio in Lowestoft. The solo from 3.05 is actually a saxophone solo our longtime collaborator Rob Milne played, though it's heavily edited so sounds more like a synth hybrid.

Track 3: Et Alias
JB: The beast of the album. This is probably the most collaborative and woven tune on the album in terms of sections of music from different periods of the band. There's stuff in here from 2012, 2014, 2017 and 2020. It's constantly evolved and had bits added and removed many times which you can hear in the demos. The transitional section getting out of the guitar solo at the end has literally changed over ten times over the last ten years and it will probably change again in the future. This is also one of the three tracks we played at our first-ever gig, which is why we wanted to open the album with them. The saxophone solo at around 8.30 was actually originally recorded over the intro but later moved to its final resting place to bring out the epic scale of that section. It definitely feels like the darkest track on the album by far, with some really emotionally intense sections.

Track 4: Indigo Moon
JB: I think this tune acts as a great rest break between the two pairs on either side of it, which are all fairly non-stop. It has the calmest, most delicate bits of music and also repeats the most often. Again, some of the main hooks here date back to 2012. This is the second song we ever worked on as a band. The synth tone that comes in around 6.30 was nicknamed "dog shit" for some reason. I think it sounded like howling dogs to us and we thought it was kinda shit, but it works in context. This song has some of my favorite feel-good moments we've done (particularly the theme from around 7 minutes) and there's plenty of room for expansion in a live setting which is a huge part of our music.

Track 5: To The Sun
JB: The swell-up from Indigo Moon into this track was a creation by mix engineer Mikey Shaw. He just did it and we loved it. I remember working on the duel guitar intro for this track over a hot summer day in our rehearsal cabin in Norfolk, probably in the months before recording, but everything from around 2 minutes until the end is original stuff we wrote years ago. The last minute of the track is particularly old and a piece we always go to for our most "party" vibe, whenever we need that in a set. In my opinion, the guitar solo in the middle here is way too slow. We recorded the drums for this album live with the band so I guess that's just the speed we felt to play it on the day but it always sticks out to me as not being fast enough. The synth part that comes in at 3.40 made us all laugh in the studio. Total disco dance cheese. The guitar transition into Django has been around for years which is why we included it on the album as the closer.

Track 6: Django
JB: We knew from the start that this track absolutely had to close the record. We've closed shows with this many times because it's such a fiery piece with constant action and energy. It's also fairly short and has a super tight end on it which works well for closing. It felt right to begin and end with two slammers on this one. This is probably the only tune on the album to retain all of its original parts, with the only additions being in the middle minute or so. We also made slight adjustments to the intro and outro in the prep for recording but the versions you can hear from 2012-2013 are mostly made up of stuff you can hear on this album version. Django is also probably the most similar between its studio version and its live versions. We often extend the intro and outro when we do it live but all the main melodies and solos are the same in both settings