Grey Goose "'Til the Medicine Takes" CD
[Sounds of Subterrania]
I can't decide how I feel about this. It's the debut full-length from a band that features ex-members of Radon and As Friends Rust (the latter of which I was an enormous fan of), and it's basically midpaced indie rock that has a little of its own feel going on thanks in part to some gruffly sung vocals. But something feels like it's missing, and I'm not sure what that something is. I guess at the end of the day it's simply that I don't perceive a great deal of emotion in this work. That's not to say it's not there, but I personally don't really catch the feeling or emotion that they're trying to convey, so a lot of the material just ends up sounding a little bland to me. I wish there were more vocal harmonies or backups, but at the same time when they do employ those devices something doesn't sound right either, so... again, I'm having a hard time pinning down what it is that's not clicking with me on this one. Midway through the record it also becomes apparent that the songs sound too similar to one another, especially in regards to overall tempo, and that's definitely a hitch. I referred to it as indie rock, but it doesn't sound standard. Some of the octave chords and janglier textures in tracks like "For the City" are a little more typical of the genre, but the thickness of the recording changes the tone of these songs in many cases, and some of the playing sounds like it's hinting more at rock 'n' roll without actually fully venturing into such territory. "Band of the Future" brings in some harmonica (you heard me) and ends up being a little catchier, which works for me, and later in the disc "Elimination Process" is among the only tracks with a peppier tempo that almost hints at pop-punk undercurrents, with "Medicine" also speeding up a bit in its brief 1:45 timeframe. Even though I'm not sure it's entirely proper for this music, I don't mind the recording. It's on the dry side and has a little bit of a gritty density to it, but I like that. I think the guitars and bass need more brightness, but the texture of the vocals is excellent and I have no quarrels with the percussion either. Sometimes the singing feels a little plain, but I think adding some detail to the instrumentation would help blend the music and the vocals better rather than having the vocals resting on top of such a dense core like this. No big deal, though. It sounds pretty good, and elements of the production also help the band retain more of their own sound. The disc comes in a black digipack with a red booklet and both use fairly minimal imagery. I don't like the typefaces they've chosen because they just don't fit, and some of the text on the outer packaging can be hard to read, but other than that it looks alright. Lyrically the content deals with personal hardships in a manner that's not direct enough to lay it all out, so that's cool: "I'm not the one we thought I was, so there's so much to live down now. How things got so fucked up in my head, out here just taking medicine. Did some thinking and I'm getting nowhere..." I don't know, I honestly feel like I should like this, because there are cool aspects of the material, but... it's just not hitting me. You could cite very loose ties between Grey Goose and a band like Jawbreaker, but without the amazing songwriting abilities, so at this point Grey Goose is just a fairly unique sounding band that needs to push for more energy and emotion in their songs. (5/10)
Running time - 35:00 (approximately), Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: Band of the Future, Elimination Process]
Sounds of Subterrania - http://www.soundsofsubterrania.com

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