Expectation is a harsh mistress. You play by her rules, no questions asked. This can be especially true of musics that take time to seep into your consciousness, translated into a context where they have the moment and the moment alone to make impact. Expectation can rain fire down on ‘average’ and prod suspiciously at ‘different’, unless of course those were your expectations in the first place. Yet strangely we had little expectation for psychedelic/progressive/ethereal/post-folk matrixes Gravenhurst.  Yes, they’re about and of emotion, they verge on the very precipice of being deeply affecting at points and wide-eyed wonder is their lifeblood, but the delivery on record seems as much about detachment from that, keeping a safe distance from the subject in order to ensure accuracy of reflection and control. What could we expect in a live situation considering that? To be in thrall, at least? But in what respect? We expect nothing therefore, but because we expect nothing they blow our minds.
It’s almost unfair, the amount of raw, spiralling power these live performances hold over their recorded counterparts. The static hum of the instruments through amplifiers is enough by itself to afford the songs a more human hue, like air being drawn deeply into their lungs and the subsequent budding this inevitably brings. The light, wispy, guarded folk pluckings are that much more crisp and ringing – the difference between whispering delicately down a phone line or directly into someone’s ear with your hand on their knee. The occasional raw post-rock climaxes surge well beyond antagonised malcontent, pulling at extremes like a tug-o-war between planets. And the drums of Dave Collingwood are firm decimal dots in the larger equation, necessary although almost anonymous in their intuitive and consistent presence, a concrete support to the breathtaking precision that is evident when all four members work together at capacity. An air of studio boffinry remains – looking Gravenhurst in the eye is certainly not the same as looking at Mogwai (though on ‘Grand Union Canal’ and ‘Song From Under The Arches’, close your eyes and the muscularity isn’t so different). Nick Talbot, surely knowing this, jokes at one point of inter-song requests to the sound desk that we should take 5 to discuss the intricacies of monitor engineering. His presence on stage is of quiet master of his trade, his every touch of the guitar commanding, emotive, intricate, effortless. His vocals are quiet, but textured, warm and tuned in. His poetic lyrics on record are one of the important parts of the puzzle, but live they’re not so apparent and it’s all about their shape and sincerity, and that turns out to be more than enough. Current album ‘The Western Lands’ is arguably their most accomplished yet, and quite simply they play a show easily befitting of that accolade. Relevant sites:
www.gravenhurstmusic.com
James Berry for Crud Magazine 2007© |
