THE HORNBOOK

While his journey on this terrestrial plane has taken him from his native Alaska to Utah to Québec to Portland to Hawaii to his current home (for the next five minutes at least), Gus Englehorn is ultimately a citizen of Planet Gus, an uncanny universe created through a big-bang collision between serene beauty and apocalyptic chaos, populated by folkloric heroes, creepy characters, and oversized insects alike.

The Hornbook, magically transmutes the entire history of 20th-century rock ‘n’ roll—’50s golden oldies, ‘60s garage spunk, ‘70s glam flamboyance, ‘80s indie transgression, ‘90s lo-fi weirdness—into an alien transmission from the future. Now, if you stayed awake during high-school history class, you might remember that a hornbook is an early-education tool for children dating back to the 15th century—a wooden paddle inscribed with the alphabet, numbers, and the odd Bible verse. (Think of it as the beta version of your iPhone’s notes app.) “When I was writing these songs, it felt like I was making a children's book—every song was a little story,” Englehorn says of the title concept. “But it also felt like a little bit of a cipher for our whole world.”

The Hornbook was largely written in Maui but recorded in Montreal with producer Mark Lawson, whose C.V, includes one of Englehorn’s personal touchstones: Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone?, the gloriously ramshackle 2003 debut album from Montreal cult heroes The Unicorns. “The Unicorns are a huge influence,” Englehorn enthuses, and certainly you can hear a similar childlike sensibility on The Hornbook, from the Dr. Seussian wordplay in his songs, to the ever-present mischievous glee in his singing voice, to the sandbox experimental approach he shares with his musical (and matrimonial) partner.

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