Glissando - With Our Arms Wide Open We March Towards The Burning Sea
by Chris Jones
published: 11 / 9 / 2008
Label:
Gizeh Records
Format: CD
intro
Dark and disturbing but haunting ambience on debut album from Leeds-based group Glissando, the project of one-time couple Elly May Irving and Richard Knox
This is the first work I have ever heard from Glissando and I will guess that might be the case for many people. Prior to this album, the band, Elly May Irving and Richard Knox, have only released material via limited CDR's. The fact that this album exists might be considered a minor miracle as well, since the long term relationship between Irving and Knox dissolved prior to this album even being conceived. I don't know how the relationship issues affected the creation of these songs, but this may be one of the most haunting albums I've heard. Violins and pianos, trumpets and trombones, create an orchestral drone that pulls you into a dark, lonely, almost otherworldly place. Is this the sound of soul searching or deep introspection? Perhaps. And while the album does seem to exist in a dark place, it somehow manages to resist slipping into abject depression even when some of the songs stretch on into the 10 minute plus range. The key behind this seems to be the vocals of Irving. Her voice is only slightly less haunting than the music, as it has at least a touch of hope or possibly wonder to it that keeps things from getting too heavy. Her voice is at times joined by male vocals, creating a sense of tension that might also help in keeping things from sinking into an abyss. The orchestral drone of the music is both gentle and haunting. The voice of Irving offering the glimmer of hope. Glissando have created a very heavy album that at times seems on the verge of pulling the listener into a void that can not be escaped. And while that isn't always a bad thing, I was glad that things didn't get quite that deep.
Track Listing:-
1 We Are Depleting2 With A Kiss And A Tear
3 Floods
4 White Silence And The Fragile Reality
5 Goodbye Red Rose! This Was Not For You
6 Like Everything You See
7 Always The Storm
8 Grekken
9 Our Flags Wave And Our Arms Are Around Another's Shoulders
Label Links:-
http://www.gizehrecords.com/https://www.facebook.com/gizehrecords
https://twitter.com/gizehrecords
live reviews |
|
Roxy, Edinburgh, 3/6/2010 |
|
| In an evening packed with disaster, John Clarkson at the Roxy in Edinburgh watches Leeeds post-rock band Glissando, playing as a duo for the first time in two years, perform an against-the-odds spellbinding show |
most viewed articles
current edition
Peter Doherty - Blackheath Halls, Blackheath and Palace Halls, Watford, 18/3/2025 and 21/3/2025Yardbirds - Interview with Jim McCarty
Johnny Cash - Video Vault
Max Bianco and the BlueHearts - Troubadour, London, 29/3/2025
John Philip Shenale - Interview
Deb Googe and Cara Tivey - Interview
Armory Show - Interview with Richard Jobson
Man From Delmonte - Interview
Loft - Interview
Vapors - Interview
most viewed reviews
current edition
Bryan Ferry and Amelia Barrett - Loose TalkIvor Game - When Will You Fall Into My Loving Arms?
Gabriel Moreno - Nights in the Belly of Bohemia
Doris Brendel and Lee Dunham - Big Blue Sky
Brooke Combe - Dancing at the Edge of the World
Shaw's Trailer Park - I Thought I Saw You
Bryan Adams - Live at the Royal Albert Hall 2024
Ringo Starr - Look Up
FKA twigs - Eusexua
Leon Bridges - Leon
Pennyblackmusic Regular Contributors
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart