Although Alan Duggan Borges is best known as the guitarist for Irish rock group Gilla Band, the singer-songwriter and producer used 2025 as the launching point for his newest moniker, The Null Club, with in-your-face singles like “Overgrown” featuring Miss Grit.
The new solo project, which began back in February with the release of “Slip Angle,” was born out of Duggan Borges’ curiosity for self-produced work. While most of Gilla Band’s songs are written collectively, Duggan Borges felt that he had more to offer upon experimenting with synths, pedals, and drum machines.
Taking his name from a combination of ‘70s LA-band The Gun Club and the title of a pulp comic, Duggan Borges then accumulated several singles that would be released in the coming months following “Slip Angle.”
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Aside from the singles’ shared similarity in disregarding genre conventions and letting drum machines take center stage, they feature an eclectic crowd of collaborators, ranging from rapper E L U C I D (Armand Hammer) to fellow noise rock peer Valentine Caulfield (Mandy, Indiana).
The result would be a self-titled EP released in April. Both of the aforementioned collaborations are unafraid of confrontation, with “Frameshift” centering around an abrasive clash of noise and industrial soundscapes and “Slip Angle” announcing itself from the get-go as a thumping rager befitting of a frantic run through a jungle.
More recently, “Overgrown” carried over the intense energy of previous singles and repurposed their kineticism into house music, relying on a club-ready beat while Miss Grit’s eerie vocals help maintain the connective tissue between singles.
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About the song’s making, Duggan Borges said, “The hypnotic but kind of punishing nature of a 909 kick drum is something I’ve always searched for in music…When I had a rough pass of the instrumental done, Miss Grit added vocals and life to the track. The whole thing came together quite naturally and the vocals added so much feel and texture to the track.”
At the same time, there’s no denying the unsettling atmosphere hiding underneath the otherwise simple bounce of “Overgrown.” True to its title–although differing in the sense that you never get tired of The Null Club’s sound–the song lets itself expand over the six-minute runtime, eventually releasing a barrage of abrasive thuds akin to the climax on “Frameshift.”
The Null Club doesn’t mean Gilla Band is over. In fact, Duggan Borges has indicated the group is still working on new music. But the addition of a solo project allows him to show the full spectrum of his talent and unleash hell through electronic machines.
“Overgrown” by The Null Club is out on streaming services. For more on new music and tickets to potential shows, follow him on Instagram and his website.
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