The name Guts Club sounds like a playfully morose nickname for the greater human community, which is perhaps why any of the new directions the New Orleans–based project has taken over the past decade has never been too surprising. Evolving from lo-fi soundtracks for lo-fi video art into gothic country before fully descending into the realm of metal in the midst of our country’s ultimate descent into whatever the fuck we’re currently living through, their latest chapter, Please Come Back to the Farm, will build upon the droning doom-metal of 2023’s Cliffs/Walls with the addition of baritone sax. The result lands somewhere between the ominous, fascism-crushing din of Divide and Dissolve and the fiery free-jazz accents of post-Zorn metal freakshows like Neptunian Maximalism.
The latest eight-minute cut from that new album is familiar in name—and, possibly, to an extremely well-trained ear, in composition. “Father Figure by George Michael” is, in fact, a cover of the pop-soul figure’s 1987 single, borrowing its sensual ambiance before, well, that Naked City influence kicks in. “‘Father Figure’ is a sexy, classic slow jam from the era of bedroom music seemingly manufactured for straight couples, but with that sneaky little wink for us queers,” the band shares, divulging their MO behind the Valentine’s Day cover. “We have found something special, something sacred, and it’s our duty to keep that safe, especially in increasingly horrifying times. George wasn’t out when the track was first released, but we sure as shit are. We wanted to give the song an actual gay makeover and let it exist in a space where it’s safe to be insanely gay.”
Take that, Babygirl. Check out the cover below, and pre-order Please Come Back to the Farm ahead of its March 14 release date here.
