Still Woozy: Habit review – three minutes of heaven, again

It’s a mid-week evening in June and I’m enjoying another great binge session of the Netflix show ‘Dear White People’. I had quickly discovered from watching the show that it wouldn’t just be the storyline or acting that I’d enjoy – it turned out the producers had amazing music taste. For example, there was the amazing but fairly obscure Stand on the Word by the Joubert Singers that closed the opening episode, or the experimental rock of Wild Beasts on the track Ponytail that appeared later on. I even have ‘Dear White People’ to thank for my discovery of jazz-pop singer-songwriter Rex Orange County when his song Uno closed one of the episodes. But of all the songs that the show had me hooked on, one stood out from the rest. It was barely a five second clip slipped in towards the beginning of an episode, but it was enough to compel me to stop the episode and get Shazam out on my phone. I listened to the track – which happened to be Still Woozy’s breakout single Goodie Bag – and it blew my mind. I’d never heard anything like it before: a glorious amalgamation of acoustic and electronic, R&B and funk, so strange and wonderfully surreal that it reflected the bizarre creature that accompanied it on the single art. The track quickly broke Undertone records, equaling the most plays in one week at the time (20) and becoming the only track in my blog’s history to become Song of the Week twice in a row. The single accordingly was a huge success globally for Still Woozy (Californian Sven Gamsky), and me and many other fans were hugely excited for his new single released earlier this month.

That single, Habit, is extraordinary. Gamsky continues with his unique sound (referred to by himself as ‘wooz’) in a step above and beyond his earlier single, a feat which had previously seemed impossible. Like its predecessor, Habit wastes little time in getting to the hook, which provides such an outrageous bounce you’ll be off your seat in seconds. It’s worth noting that the polish and production on this track is remarkable; Gamsky records everything from his garage/studio but there is nothing from Habit that relates the song back to its amateur beginnings. Lyrics increase in their ferocity and dynamism as f-bombs fly and Gamsky reaches the verge of rap as the first (and only) verse develops. Then, in an unexpected change from the tried-and-tested Goodie Bag song formula that we expect to hear in Habit, Gamsky reaches new heights with a thumping detour from the first verse. An instantly recognisable Woozy synth and belting kick drum powers this section, and the stops are a delightful new addition from Gamsky’s previous track. Of course, the chorus has to return eventually and it does so with significantly more punch than the first time round. There is also a vital repeat on this chorus, a feature that Goodie Bag critically lacked.

With an vastly improved structure and neat tricks like stops and irregular sections, Gamsky has remarkably improved on his last work. Consequently I listened to Habit 27 times in one week (almost four times a day), smashing the previous all-time record of 24 set by Tieduprightnow back in August. It all sets Gamsky up for what seems like his inevitable downfall in the next single – how can he possibly top Habit? One thing’s for sure: with Still Woozy’s spectacular songwriting and production skills, I’ll never be sick of the ‘wooz’.