OKComputer1016
06/14/08, 05:36 PM
Guapo - Elixirs
Record Label: Neurot Records
Release Date: February 26, 2008
Patience is the key, my friend.
Like the soundtrack to a particularly disorienting fever, Elixirs floats along tranquilly, peacefully, but with more than a hint of something undefinable and unsettling driving the experience. It’s like the eye of a storm, deceptively calm but always foreshadowing doom.
Nothing sounds forced. There’s no verse-chorus-verse and definitely no single. There are only vocals where there needs to be vocals. Point being, this is not your conventional album; it’s more like the music of the subconscious.
Everything on the album flows like it wasn’t even written, but just was meant to happen. That is not to say that it sounds improvised – quite the opposite in fact. The intricacies in rhythm all over the place could never have been thought up on the spot. Rather, these songs sound like they were conceived in some dream and transcribed during an out-of-body experience. The way that William Wordsworth thought nature was writing poetry through use of his body as a tool, that’s the truest metaphor I could come up with to describe the mood here.
The centerpiece couplet “Twisted Stems” is pretty much the perfect relaxing music. The first half, “The Heliotrope,” is a mix between slowed-down Radiohead and early-1970’s Pink Floyd (think “The Tourist” meets “Echoes”), complete with enough drone to captivate/transfix/hypnotize even the most ADD of listeners. The latter half, “The Selenotrope,” is just as progressive, with wavering Nico-esque vocals and a diminished slow jazz melody that, frankly, has to be heard to be appreciated.
It’s the subtleties that make the album so completely frightening. There’s what sounds like sharpening knives keeping percussive rhythm in “The Heliotrope,” and not to be overlooked is the faint and random cowbell tapping in “The Selenotrope,” which might not even present itself in the mix until the third or fourth listen. And yup, that was a gong punctuating the 15-minute closer, “King Lindorn.”
No, there’s no way words could do justice to the beauty of Elixirs. It’s a unique emotional masterpiece that doesn’t fit well into any genre and follows no conventions. Absolutely the perfect disc to listen to as a remedy to the sameness of modern music.
Take one right before bed.
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Mr. Bungle, Meddle-era Pink Floyd, King Crimson
guapo.co.uk (http://www.guapo.co.uk/)
Record Label: Neurot Records
Release Date: February 26, 2008
Patience is the key, my friend.
Like the soundtrack to a particularly disorienting fever, Elixirs floats along tranquilly, peacefully, but with more than a hint of something undefinable and unsettling driving the experience. It’s like the eye of a storm, deceptively calm but always foreshadowing doom.
Nothing sounds forced. There’s no verse-chorus-verse and definitely no single. There are only vocals where there needs to be vocals. Point being, this is not your conventional album; it’s more like the music of the subconscious.
Everything on the album flows like it wasn’t even written, but just was meant to happen. That is not to say that it sounds improvised – quite the opposite in fact. The intricacies in rhythm all over the place could never have been thought up on the spot. Rather, these songs sound like they were conceived in some dream and transcribed during an out-of-body experience. The way that William Wordsworth thought nature was writing poetry through use of his body as a tool, that’s the truest metaphor I could come up with to describe the mood here.
The centerpiece couplet “Twisted Stems” is pretty much the perfect relaxing music. The first half, “The Heliotrope,” is a mix between slowed-down Radiohead and early-1970’s Pink Floyd (think “The Tourist” meets “Echoes”), complete with enough drone to captivate/transfix/hypnotize even the most ADD of listeners. The latter half, “The Selenotrope,” is just as progressive, with wavering Nico-esque vocals and a diminished slow jazz melody that, frankly, has to be heard to be appreciated.
It’s the subtleties that make the album so completely frightening. There’s what sounds like sharpening knives keeping percussive rhythm in “The Heliotrope,” and not to be overlooked is the faint and random cowbell tapping in “The Selenotrope,” which might not even present itself in the mix until the third or fourth listen. And yup, that was a gong punctuating the 15-minute closer, “King Lindorn.”
No, there’s no way words could do justice to the beauty of Elixirs. It’s a unique emotional masterpiece that doesn’t fit well into any genre and follows no conventions. Absolutely the perfect disc to listen to as a remedy to the sameness of modern music.
Take one right before bed.
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Mr. Bungle, Meddle-era Pink Floyd, King Crimson
guapo.co.uk (http://www.guapo.co.uk/)