EP Review: Gork - 'Class'

Bristol based six-piece Gork aren’t afraid to be out there with their music. According to them they aren’t even of this planet, so why should they be worried about earthly conventions?

Their first EP, 2017’s Get Porked, was a case in point. Released on Dental Records, Get Porked is a three-song album with less then two minutes of actual music, most of which is focused on spinach. Now two years on and Gork are back with new EP Class. While the mischievous spirit and vegetable fixation are carried on, Gork’s music has come on leaps and bounds since their early work. Interim standalone singles, ‘Gunk’ and ‘Spoons’, showed that Gork were capable of writing catchy pop punk melodies, but on Class they really let their freak flags fly. Embracing the freeform, genre-blending approach of 60’s psych bands, Gork slip through styles with impressive rapidity. Lead track ‘Dance with Me’ switches between New Rave  and school yard chanting so quickly that one doubts the plausibility of it ever being preformed live. While the songs remain thematically absurd and satirical though out, the approach becomes slightly more straightforward on tracks such as ‘Weird Decisions’ and the absurdly raucous ‘Cabbage’. Class finds Gork testing the balance between experimentation and pop sensibility, and while one can hope they will keep pushing ever further, it is a balance they are so far proving they have a gift for. Gork have stated that they are “intent on riding the entire spectrum of noise”. With Class they’ve made a good start. 

Words by Gwendolen Austin

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