Black Hole Sons
Last updated: 03/08/2006 - 13:20
Black Holes In The Sand by Gravenhurst
A brand new mini album from Warp Records artists Gravenhurst with a gentle acoustic slant.
Fresh from a very successful British tour supporting Domino recording artiste Juana Molina, Gravenhurst unleash a mini-album chock full of gentle sounds that will endear itself to fans of the likes The Kings of Convenience, Nick Drake, Bert Jansch and Damon and Naomi.
Black Holes in the Sand marks a significant progression for Gravenhurst. The sonic elements of the previous record have been magnified, the undercurrent of lyrical dread intensified, yet the title track is as immediate and approachable as anything on the previous album.
Typical approaches to emotional manipulation - pedal steel; harmonica - have been completely abandoned and replaced with squealing feedback, distorted organs and extended droning passages.
Still Water, a beautiful, strange song evoking images of lost civilisations and cultural entropy, quickly collapses into a Velvets-inspired wig-out complete with shredding Telecasters, tambourines and shaky, stuttering Moe (Velvet Underground) Tucker style percussion.
The rural elements of the album Flashlight Seasons are extended with the epic Flowers in Her Hair, then stretched to breaking point with a cover of Hüsker Dü's Diane, reinterpreting a punk classic (previously covered, with far less success by Irish three-piece Therapy?) - as a (gentle – if such a thing is possible) murder ballad.
The full track listing for the mini-album looks like this:
1. Black Holes In The Sand
2. Flowers In Her Hair
3. Still Water
4. Winter Moon
5. Diane
6. Flashlight Seasons
Intrigued? You will be, if you give Gravenhurst a spin. And charmed in equal measure we reckon. A delight.
Black Holes In The Sand is out now, from Warp Records. The band’s former (second) Nick Talbot produced album Flashlight Seasons, is also still available, from Warp.
More information available in Music