G Plan - All Roads Lead To This

  by Jon Rogers

published: 16 / 8 / 2004

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Review

G-Plan's debut album smacks all over to being the imaginary soundtrack to some macabre film noir that David Lynch could be proud of. Even the songs titles seem to have been lifted from a storyboard: 'There's People Lying Dead in the Stairwell' and 'Send a Plane for Murray Ward' capture the visual imagination perfectly and add to the band's (largely) instrumental mood music. The Glasgow collective formed in 2002 but only became a really on-going concern last year. They take their marker from the likes of Mogwai and America's lesser known Cul de Sac and formulate post-rock, textural soundscapes, stretching out songs and building them layer by layer. 'All Roads Lead to This' gains its success through suggestive implication, and the images it conjures up more than trying to make any concrete statements. G-Plan are interested in the broad sweep of sound rather than the minute details. Individual songs like 'Feeling for Snow' may add little in themselves but it's the overall panoramic vista that matters. G-Plan also know how to liven things up. Half way through 'There's People...' after some meandering noodling the band suddenly let rip, kicking out some riff that many a grunge band could lay claim too. For the most part though 'All Roads Lead to This' is a laid-back affair, admittedly one with some dark undercurrents, conjuring up a dark, mysterious place. Occasionally it loses its way and just drifts along but it still remains an interesting opening statement.

Track Listing:-

1 5 Steps To Tyranny
2 There's People Lying Dead In The Stairwell
3 Jim Jones
4 Feeling For Snow
5 Mig! Polka
6 Goodbye You Fucking Thief!
7 Send A Plane For Murray Ward
8 Risk Taker
9 Oh Siberia!