Gwei Lo - Gwei lo

by Matthew Willson

published: 17 / 12 / 2001

Label: Bella Union
Format: CD

A sad story greets the listener to this brilliant debut mini-album from Cambridge band Gwei-lo - their first is also their last recording. A decision was made to release the album bearing testament to

Review

A sad story greets the listener to this brilliant debut mini-album from Cambridge band Gwei-lo - their first is also their last recording. A decision was made to release the album bearing testament to the musical skills of guitarist Al Brooker, who collapsed and died on stage earlier this year. As such the album's intense atmospherics echo with lost potential, and the translation of their Chinese band name, ghost-walker, has a sad irony toit. The music itself justifies all the sadness-tinged hyperbole surrounding the band's debut. In the best traditions of post-rock it creates unusual, unconventional yet beautiful sounds from little more than a standard guitar band setup. The musical agenda is made clear by the first track, 'U.R.R'. - a fierce, energetic bout of guitar atmospherics, layering contrasting riffs, melodies and noise to create an overall texture of sound with an unusual melancholic, but dreamy dynamic to it. A huge pulsating bass sound and intricate expressive drumming add just as much to the songs as the original guitar work. 'Cell Song' comes closest to the more standard chords and melodies form that the album largely bypasses, starting with a simple riff and adding fast drum patterns and layers of haunting echoey samples between more melodic bursts of sound. All the stops are pulled out to create sounds that feed a unique atmosphere - the songs are awash with harmonics, echoes, subtle samples and electronic effects, swathes of noise, quiet riffs and dissonance, lots of bass, and drumming that at times wouldn't sound out of place on an experimental dance record. When they all come together, in the climax of 7-minute track 'Corona', the sound is magnificent. And it all fits together to form a coherent whole, at times sad and intense, at times pulsing with rhythmic energy. A brilliant debut, which leaves us to wonder what heights the band could have reached with this amount of potential.