Gist - Holding Pattern

by Tommy Gunnarsson

published: 19 / 11 / 2017

Label: Tiny Global Productions
Format: CD

Hit and miss sercond album from the the Gist, the project of Young Marble Giants' songwriter Stuart Moxham, which follows on thirty-five years after their debut album

Review

Okay, first of all, let me make one thing clear to you – I'm a big fan of Stuart Moxham. I absolutely adore his work with the legendary minimalistic Welsh trio Young Marble Giants. I really like the first Gist album ('Embrace the Herd', released back in 1982). And I think he has released some really good songs under his own name during the 90's and 00's. Yup, you guessed it. After an introduction like that, this review can't be a very positive one... After the release of the aforementioned debut album by the Gist, Stuart was dropped by his label Rough Trade, and more or less disappeared from the music radar. At least from a public point of view. While raising a family and working a regular daytime job, he continued to write and record music, recordings that have remained unreleased, until now. Stuart has been digging into his archive of ”lost” recordings and compiled some of them to form 'Holding Pattern'. According to the press release, this could have been the follow-up to Young Marble Giants iconic 1980 album 'Colossal Youth', and I'm glad it wasn't. Sure, there are some classic Young Marble Giants/Gist sounds here, especially on 'Yeah x 3', 'Assured Energy' and the instrumental 'Clean Bridges', but we also get more reggae rhythms than we asked for. More than one time I think that it sounds like some demos recorded in a haste in the rehearsal space, which doesn't have to be a bad thing, but I think I expected more from this album, to be honest. And where are the two amazing songs 'This is love' and 'Yanks', released as the Gist's debut single in 1980? They are among the best songs Stuart has ever recorded, and was not included on the first Gist album, so an inclusion here would have been really welcome. When I first read about this album a few months ago, I thought that we would finally get a follow-up to 'Embrace the Herd', but I would rather call this an odd collection of bits and pieces, and prefer to keep waiting for the ”real” follow-up. If there ever will be one...

Track Listing:-

1 God Knows
2 Fool For A Valentine
3 Assured Energy
4 Ckean Bridges
5 Old Mannerisms
6 Being True
7 Bongo Headache
8 Killer Bird
9 Big Dirty City
10 Here Comes Love
11 The Loving Cup
12 Night By Night
13 Yeah X 3
14 Holding Pattern