Portland singer-songwriter Jason Lenyer Buchanan steps into a more reflective, intimate, and transitional space with “Gus Gus.” Known primarily for his acoustic guitar-driven work, Buchanan shifts toward piano this time around, and that subtle change reshapes the emotional atmosphere completely. The song feels warmer, more cinematic, and vulnerable, like watching someone rebuild themselves in real time without making a spectacle of it.
Recorded following Buchanan’s relocation from Cheyenne to Portland, “Gus Gus” carries the feeling of movement and adjustment in its bones.
“Gus Gus” opens beautifully, with piano notes unfolding like hesitant footsteps down an unfamiliar road. It uses the perspective of a mouse scavenging for survival to explore alienation, resilience, and longing for connection. Buchanan’s deep, relaxed voice enters softly at first, almost conversationally, before gradually swelling with tenderness and vulnerability.
He sings, “Everybody treats me like some bad disease / But I’m just a mouse, and I’m searching for some cheese,” manages to sound playful and heartbreaking at the same time. The imagery shows that exhaustion, the feeling of constantly hiding, surviving, and trying to make a home out of scraps, that perhaps even many human beings living in such conditions can relate to. Even if you can’t relate to it, you know that no one wants to be in that place, because Buchanan is telling us how it feels to be that mouse. He’s literally telling us how to be kinder.
Slow, steady percussion begins to pulse underneath, giving the song a heartbeat-like rhythm while subtle shaking textures add movement around the edges. By the bridge, the strings begin to writhe and bend delicately, thawing the song open into its most emotional moment.
Meanwhile, in the refrained plea, “Could someone spare me one?” that the mouse asks despite accepting his condition, the artist pushes us to make a decision to provide something for the mouse, welcoming the idea of giving back to the community as a pillar that humanity can’t survive without.
As a standalone single, “Gus Gus” works wonderfully. But more importantly, it feels like the sound of an artist widening his emotional palette and conveying himself as a serious artist who’s got his heart in the right place.
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Review by: Naomi Joan