Gratton "s/t" CD
[Inam]
This is the third release from this interesting instrumental project, and it's also their best yet.  Still in place are the restrained and relaxed ambient hums and drones, with the more musical guitar work playing a slightly more focal role this time out.  Opener "Nominal" solidifies that fact right off the bat, as within a few minutes some great acoustic guitar melodies are layered in against the ambience, which sort of bookends the guitar work and leads into "Teromatta" - which introduces guitars and drums right away.  I really like the way the percussion has been treated in this track as it sounds live since it has a nice, warm resonance to it, but there are some effects applied that mess with the sustain of the drums against the droning guitars and almost lend a certain programmed vibe to it that's fairly effective.  Traditional instrumentation both introduced and brought to a close by smooth dark ambient soundscapes seems to be the name of the game here, as that structuring continues to roll between the next few passages as well, where simple drumbeats and basic guitar chords create a pulsing tempo that's beefed up by equally minimal bass work, with "Tychy" almost bringing in some sort of weird, dark, alternative country kind of ring or something like that (it's hard to explain, there's just a certain drawl to the guitars that brings in some different associations on this one), closing with one of the more extended experimental passages that makes up the bulk of its six-and-a-half minutes.  Not necessarily surprisingly the weird country-ish vibe returns in "Divisible", but the strummed acoustic chords also almost have an apocalyptic folk tinge as well, so there are actually a lot of different styles going on in this material.  A lot of the reverberating effects and droning, sustained guitar notes are more reminiscent of certain popular "modern rock" (or whatever) acts like Coldplay or Radiohead, but these instrumental compositions have very little in common with those artists at all, the same way they have very little in common with Death in June or the almighty Agalloch, despite a few loose musical similarities in some of the acoustic work.  "Fives and Sevens" and "Jokerit" are the shortest tunes, each less than four minutes, and "Fives and Sevens" is actually among the more emotional pieces as well.  It's very similar in overall delivery and general tone to the other material, but something about the layered guitar parts really works well and creates a moving melody in this track, whereas "Jokerit" is the only selection dominated by sinister experimental textures while faint acoustic guitars take a backseat in a sparse and repetitive chord progression.  The CD-R is housed in a matte sleeve of textured red paper with four different transparencies inside along with the cream colored insert for the track titles.  The artwork is nothing but small, sketchy circular images that have a consistent aesthetic and make for a simple yet effective D.I.Y. package (hand-numbered out of 75 copies, by the way).  All in all this is a very nice disc.  It might be a little too consistent for its own good (considering that it's 42 minutes long, anyway), but just barely, if that.  I definitely think the group is growing into their own as far as constructing tangible songs that still have an experimental edge, and there's more obvious emotion and feeling in a lot of these pieces.  I definitely think they ought to be getting more attention, and I really believe they could do some really amazing work if they continue to develop in this direction.  Nicely done. (7/10)
Running time - 42:18, Tracks: 8
[Notable tracks: Nominal, Teromatta, Fives and Sevens]
Gratton - inamrecs@yahoo.com

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