published: 7 /
1 /
2003
Label:
Ochre
Format: CD
Pleasant, but undemanding minimalistic post rock from critically acclaimed San Francisco three piece, Charles Atlas
Review
Charles Atlas is a three-person minimalist group from San Francisco: Sacha Galvagna joining Matt Greenberg and Charles Wyatt.
I remember Charles Atlas ads in comic books from when I was a kid, in which the 'The World's Most Perfectly Developed Man' promised to build muscles through “Dynamic Tension!”, the phrase which probably enticed the band to select the
name.
On the first track, 'The Deadest Bar' you get a couple of minutes of falling and rising drones — then, at the three minute mark, sone electronic chirps, a repeated guitar figure, a bassy pulse; stick a round for a couple more minutes and you get piano, wordless gauzy vocalising, saw (courtesy Denise Bon Giovanni). It’s all pretty and mostly unhurried, and slightly melancholic. If it were a soundtrack, it would be for a leisurely country drive, just around the time winter is ending, before spring has enlivened. Much of the rest of the album sets the same tone, and iws reminiscent of the Dutch Harbor OST.
The next track' 'One Foot Under' has a somewhat speedier riff played over a tone that rises in pitch in volume, then stops only to rise again and an insistent one note bass line. Some syncopation is provided by hissy beats. Then it stops dead.
Track three, 'Sun With Teeth', has another of those guitar scale exercises, a regular pulse of electric keyboards, trumpet ... there’s a common method in all these tracks; a basic structure is set down, usually a handful of notes on a carefully picked guitar, something pulses, something drones, something rises and falls, or just rises.
Having established their modus operandi, the music’s ability to maintain the listener’s interest drops off a bit, though there are still prime moments like the intertwining distorted guitar on 'Elysium' (guest musician Sean Coleman gets the credit for this). It is pleasant to listen to on a track-by-track basis, but over the course of the album the tunes seem a little short of character (and, regrettably, “Dynamic Tension!”). You could switch the song titles without anyone but the band being the wiser; even on an instrumental album that’s never a good sign. For fans of minimalism only; others will find better introductions to the genre, including last year's Atlas album 'Felt Cover' (Static Caravan, 2001).
Track Listing:-
1
The Deadest Star
2
One Foot Under
3
Sun With Teeth
4
Elysium
5
Italian Air
6
Antiphon
7
Factotum
8
Stratergies For Success Boxes
9
Port, Noise Complaint