London’s buzziest music event next week is a show by Gustaffson at Bush Hall. Why? Well, because this band have not simply recorded one of the albums of the year - Black & White Movie - but also, not to be too basic about it, have a knack of attracting lots of star names.
Why? Well, their front man is actor Andrew Gower, from Ellis, Carnival Row, Outlander and more. What this allows is first of all videos which are several cuts above the usual fare, and are in fact mini-movies in themselves. And it also means he managed to call upon Sir Ben Kingsley to guest star on the new album.
None of which would matter if the music isn’t up to scratch, but Gower’s song happen to be lush widescreen romantic tales which echo the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Shane McGowan and his heroes, The Beatles.
“The two taglines we had for the album when we were in the studio is don't pander to your audience, and don't kill the mystery,” says Gower.
What this means, is making an album like in the good old days, when there was an ambitious dedication to giving listener’s an all-encompassing experience, not just a ragbag of frontloaded tunes made for TikTok. Think Astral Weeks or Physical Graffiti or the work of Tom Waits. Those big acts who really invested in taking people somewhere.
“We make the kind of music that encourages you to really get into it,” he says, “Look I watch TV, I listen to the radio, and it's very easy to let things pass you by these days, consumption is everywhere.
But the reason we want to make a record is for something tangible, something that feels like people can invest in it, and when you come and watch us in a live show, we want people to be in the moment with us. Which is really hard to do these days, really hard to do. But hopefully the album allows a bit of escapism for people.”
This mix of escape and engagement is at the very core of the band and indeed Gustaffson was formed by Gower and his friend James Webster during Covid: “We were thinking there’s nothing better than being on stage with a band, a bassist, a drummer, a guitarist and myself on vocals, and providing some escapism for an audience.”
Gower wasn’t a newcomer to music. This Liverpool kid grew up as a Beatles nut - which kind of comes with the territory - and was a gigging musician in his teens, playing the Cavern and the Manchester scene. Drama school came calling to disrupt that and as his TV career took off, the songwriting became more of a hobby, but one that had serious intent in the stories and lyrics he was writing.
Then came lockdown and out came Gustaffson, named after his Swedish grandmother, Louisa Gustaffson. A fortuitous meeting with Craig Potter from Elbow on an independent film set led to his producing their first EP, The Jacaranda, before Black & White Movie was recorded in 2024 with Potter returning to helm.
It is quite some work, taking in the gritty New York love story of On Broadway and the lovelorn Flowers. Recent single Underground was an empathetic fantasy about the lives that cross ours every day. And all these came with accompanying short films.
Flowers is directed by BAFTA-nominated Myriam Raja (Topboy) and stars Jamie Harris (Carnival Row) in a magic realism mini-masterpiece. While On Broadway is a gorgeous and raw piece featuring a stand-out turn by Daniel Ings from The Gentlemen.
“Each track on the album has its own movie, each track has its own story that stands alone,” says Gower, “Black & White Movie became a concept album just from the very fact that I've collaborated with people I've met throughout my time as an actor for fifteen years. And it’s bringing together the people musically who I've always wanted to work with.
And the concept is also something vintage, and immediate, we wanted the audience to feel they're in the studio with the band. In a modern algorithmic world, I wanted the audience to feel like they may be listening to a record, as opposed to hearing.”
It’s a passionate and refreshing approach and one which you sense is going to build a large and devoted following for Gustaffson. There’s a big question around the band: how is Gower going to balance it with the acting? But actually, in tying the music so completely into his screen work, conceptually and with the collaborations and videos, it does all form one creative drive forward.
“It just felt natural to do it this way,” he says, “I get family members being like, ‘so are you just a musician now?’ Well, no, actually, I'm off to film the second series of Ellis. Uncle Ned being like, ‘you can't do both, Andrew, make up your mind!’
You can do both in this day and age. Hopefully as Black & White Movie proves, they fuel each other.”
As for Sir Ben Kingsley’s appearance on the track Closer, well it carries a lot of significance to Gower:
“That speech he does on the record got me through drama school,” he says, “[It was one he’d done years before] where he compares acting to hunting. He says that sometimes when you're waiting for an acting role, which so many actors and artists do, you can still pretend you're hunting by imagining the bow and arrow. And if you hone your craft that much, eventually when a great tribal elder, comes up to you and finally gives you a bow, you can do it.
That always stuck with me, that it could be a rainy Tuesday and I could be so unemployed and the phone isn't ringing, but I can still practice my craft and that’s everything. When I was writing Closer, I knew that I wanted that speech in, and I was lucky that me and Sir Ben share the same agent. I wrote a letter to him and he agreed to record his speech. It was wonderful.”
It seems Sir Ben won’t be joining him on future tours - “I wonder what his rider would be?” - but the shows are very much where it’s at and Bush Hall is going to be a big one: “It’s so exciting. That’s where the excitement lives.”
Gustaffson play Bush Hall on 14 May. Black & White Movie is out now.
