Gogol Bordello
Seekers and Finders
Casa Gogol / Cooking Vinyl
I find solace in Gogol Bordello’s relentless pursuit of a better world. It’s a messy search with carnal and spiritual mixes together. They are the bawdy ambassadors of a world where people find common ground in shared passions. If only there were more dancing and less blaming of others.
Seekers and Finders strikes a balance between the band’s early, gypsy punk, sound and attempts to adopt a more refined sound. I found the cleaned up sound on the last couple albums lost some of the fire that makes Gogol Bordello’s sound so special. On Seekers and Finders, main man, Eugene Hutz, takes on production duties and gets the blend right. He lets the band run full bore on tunes like “Walking on Burning Coals”. On introspective numbers like “Clairvoyance”, the band shows they’re able to pack an emotional punch at a whisper too.
Seekers and Finders celebrate the search for a better way. “Saboteur Blues” at first sounds like a fuck the world punk anthem. As the song develops, we learn that Eugene is calling for the end of the self saboteur blues. “Break Into the Higher Self” makes this striving for a better interior world more explicit. The title track is a duet with Regina Spektor that celebrates the quest. “Not all horses need riders/Not all seekers will be finders.” It’s about the journey, not the destination.
So when things start getting too serious, when the news starts making the world feel insane, Eugene and the Gogol Bordello crew remind me it’s a journey. We’re all seekers and there are others who want a world where the folks from all different walks of life and backgrounds can make a beautiful noise. Fuck the self sabotage, let’s live.
