Gus Dapperton Links With Electric Guest on New Single 'Lil Tune'

Alt-pop artist Gus Dapperton returns with the breezy new single "Lil Tune" featuring Electric Guest. As sweet melodies collide with production flourishes, the track is a reminder of Dapperton's knack for crafting delightfully left-of-center pop anthems. That tone is reflected in the surreal and charming video.

The song is Gus in his element singing an ear-worm melody over a mellow beat and guitar strumming. Electric Guest's Asa Taccone then steps up to the mic for the second verse preceding the the catchy chorus: "I've been fed up on you, lil tune." 

The accompanying video showcases Gus' singular visual artistry as a story unfolds about a woman obsessed with her favorite vinyl record. In an unexpected twist, the record reciprocates her emotions and takes on a life of its own. Equal parts whimsical romance and peculiar horror story, the "Lil Tune" video finds the singer-songwriter at his most innovative.

"Oftentimes, it's hard not to overthink it in the studio,” Gus Dapperton says. "We put this pressure on ourselves to walk out with something we love every time. That's quite a hard thing to do. While talking about this notion with Asa (a.k.a. Electric Guest), we came up with a concept for a song: writer's block." Which, somewhat ironically, erased theirs. "Writing a song about writer's block completely dissolved any actual writer's block we previously had!" 

The track arrives soon after the release of Dapperton's introspective track "Fallout" with Lil Yachty and Joey Bada$$. It was preceded by his acclaimed album, Henge, which houses gems like "Homebody," "Sunset," and the BENEE-assisted "Don't Let Me Down."

Now, with "Lil Tune," Gus Dapperton demonstrates his playful side with a crowd-pleasing anthem that you just can't get out of your head. 

ABOUT GUS DAPPERTON:

Gus Dapperton has always been obsessed with building new worlds. It's been part of his passion since he started making songs in GarageBand, a creator's mindset that eventually shaped two independent albums of defiantly original alt-pop.

“Supalonely,” his collaboration with New Zealand singer-songwriter BENEE, went viral during lockdown in 2020 and amassed more than one billion streams on its way to becoming a double-Platinum hit. “It gave me and other indie artists credibility,” he says. “It showed that alt-pop songs can be massive.”

Upon signing to Warner Records, he went even further on his last project, Henge, steeping himself in bold details and immersive songwriting to conjure a twilight world that permanently hovers between sunset and sunrise over the course of 11 mercurial songs. Instead of starting with the music, Dapperton plotted out moods and titles and worked backward, taking inspiration from film scores, '80s-inspired new wave, and '70s funk.

While the album's scope is vast and ambitious, Dapperton's music maintains the intimacy that made his previous offerings so resonant. At its core, the album is a way of processing a post-lockdown world. “I think most people can relate to wanting change and chaos, but also monotony and protection,” he says of the album's tug-of-war between night and day, socializing and solitude. “I'm always internally battling those two sides.”

Credit - Kevin Lombardo

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