Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Gravenhurst - Freebutt
Listening to their Warp released latest album ‘The Wasted Lands’, you’d be forgiven for thinking Gravenhurst may have stopped buying records in 1994, so heavily is it steeped in a pooling of styles from the more cerebral end of the indie spectrum; Shoe-gaze, post-rock and Smithsian melancholy all getting a look in. Really though this is no bad thing as Gravnehurst are currently sitting on one of the finest albums of the year; a bona fide future classic that positively oozes quality, class and craft.
Originally Gravenhurst was the experimental folk project of vocalist Nick Talbot, now they’re expanded to a four piece and the quartet’s flawless, measured playing and precise dynamic control brought the songs to life with arresting clarity. Relentlessly haunting and mournful, they combined circling riffs, slo-mo arpeggios and Talbot’s sombre, pillow soft vocals to great effect, punctuating songs with blasts of intense white noise and scorching feedback.
Talbot is far from your conventional frontman, songs are introduced with a matter of fact sneer and the set is delivered with all the pizzazz of an attended rehearsal. But when you’ve mastered music this moving and intense there really is no need for tacky showmanship.
posted by: Jim Brackpool @ 10:25 PM
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