Formats
OJO004 - CD
616892049968
Details
Opening with a ten second homage to Estonian composer Arvo Part, it's immediately apparent that A Sunny Day in Glasgow's new album, Ashes Grammar, is going to be a much more visceral outing than their 2007 album debut, Scribble Mural Comic Journal. It takes a few minutes for the record to even begin to reveal itself, as a swarm of 1950s acapella ("Secrets at the prom") gives way to resonant drones, room noise, and sub bass ("Slaughter killing carnage"). It's here that "Failure" unexpectedly kicks in with a tribal stomp and a fluttering guitar acting as a pair of wings, lifting the circular chants of the song's melody off the ground. It's all at once joyous, insecure, and blissed-out-and sounds nothing like we've heard from A Sunny Day in Glasgow before. Ashes Grammar is far more nuanced than Scribble, but there's still a cellular logic at play throughout. The brief, shimmering loop that is "Lights" turns out to be the very pulse behind the sun-kissed, ambient pop of "Passionate Introverts," a feel-good song perfectly suited to accompany daydreams or dancing by yourself in your bedroom. However, even at their most accessible there's always an indescribable otherworldliness flowing through the band's music, one that is fully revealed during "Blood White." Like famed composer/sound experimentalist Alvin Lucier's groundbreaking piece, "I Am Sitting in a Room," during this track you can practically hear the shape of the room resonating in the frequencies of voices and synths that had been amplified, recorded, replayed and recorded again and again, the undulating tones slowly drifting into a cosmic wash of bubbling electronics and guitar. Yes, in many ways this is a different group than the one we first heard back in 2007, but with Ben continuing his role as the principal songwriter, there's no doubt this Ashes Grammar could be from any other band than A Sunny Day in Glasgow. And once again, dream pop has been re-imagined.
Bandleader/songwriter Ben Daniels wanted to approach the making of Ashes Grammar differently than the critically acclaimed, bedroom-recorded Scribble Mural Comic Journal. Coming off of a successful 2008 European tour, the group found a dance studio in rural New Jersey who would let them take over the huge space on the weekends ? the perfect place for Ben and drummer/ engineer Josh Meakim to experiment with sounds and recording techniques. While the sessions got off to a good start, they would unexpectedly lead into a tumultuous few months for A Sunny Day in Glasgow ? literally transformative. Bassist Brice Hickey broke his leg in several places on the day he was to begin recording his parts. A blow to morale, this would also affect the involvement of ASDIG vocalist Robin Daniels ? Ben?s sister and Brice?s girlfriend ? who would now have to tend to her bedridden boyfriend making it impossible for her to spend any significant time in the studio. And with Ben's and Robin?s other sister, ASDIG vocalist Lauren, attending grad school in Colorado, the group would essentially be without the two singers so integral to A Sunny Day?s celestial melodies. Band newcomer Annie Fredrickson, a classically trained cellist and pianist, would find herself stepping into another role as singer, along with Josh who, luckily, has an incredible vocal range. In hindsight, those obstacles reshaped the band in ways they never could have imagined.
Tracks
1. Magna for Annie, Josh, & Robin
2. Secrets at the prom
3. Slaughter killing carnage (The meaning of words)
4. Failure
5. Curse words
6. Close chorus
7. Shy
8. Lights
9. Passionate introverts (Dinosaurs)
10. West Philly vocoder
11. Evil, with evil, against evil
12. The white witch
13. Nitetime rainbows
14. Canalfish
15. Loudly
16. Blood white
17. Ashes grammar
18. Ashes maths
19. Miss my friends
20. Starting at a disadvantage
21. Life's great
22. Headphone space
Press
UK PR handled by GOldstar, expect features on Pitchfork (track already debuted, last week), Drowned in Sound. Reviews in NME, DIS, Pichfork, Uncut..more tbc