Ganglians – Monster Head Room
2009 was a big year in the young life of Ganglians – in just twelve months a debut 7” split single with Eat Skull followed by an appearance at SXSW and a well received eponymous EP preceded what has gone one to become one of the most impressive releases on Woodsist to date – Monster Head Room.
Formed in Sacramento after guitarist/vocalist Ryan Grubbs enlisted the help of friends as a backing band for a solo show, Ganglians spent much of 2008 in the recording studio – culminating in the release of an abrasive, guttural and jerky EP that represented a band with much promise – if a little rough around the edges. With just weeks separating this from the debut LP, Monster Head Room extols an impressive amount of progression and maturation.
From the outset, as Voodoo creeps into focus, there is a sense that the band has evolved in the nurturing arms of various influences. Immediately, the pastoral folk leanings of Fleet Foxes becomes an apparent element to Ganglians creative processes as sanguine, feathery harmonies float along a contrasting, groove-laden beat that scatters twinkling, jangly guitar chords into the summer evening such a song requires for optimum enjoyment. The album is littered with similar harmonics, owing as much to the Beach Boys as well as the aforementioned Fleet Foxes. Indeed next track ‘Lost Words’ borrows extensively from Brian Wilson and co with its jaunty, iridescent melody and whimsical harmonies. Yet do not allow yourself to be coaxed into the belief that this is merely a dot-to-dot of stellar influences, for Ganglians take these stoic foundations and churn them into a grainy pulp – gathering the remnants in clumsy handfuls and launching them in all directions at said-bands back catalogues – leaving a splintered residue resting awkwardly upon the gilt-edged surface of myriad gold and platinum disks.
But enough of splinters resting upon platinum disks. Included in the track list are a couple of songs from the EP; namely ‘Candy Girl’ and ‘The Void’, both of which are polished-up and given a cleaner sound. ‘The Void’ in particular is an album highlight – a languid, ethereal acoustic number sung from the deepest woodland drenched in the fading rays of the setting sun (it probably wasn’t, but allow your imagination to wonder). Another highlight is the fantastic ‘Valiant Brave’; seven minutes or so of dark, swaggering, country-infused Indie Rock reminiscent of Tarantella.
Unlike so many albums of a similar ilk, Monster Head Room does not lose momentum as it progresses. ‘To June’, a woozy memoir of past love replete with the organic sounds of crickets, frogs and other nocturnes (why not?) evokes images of a peaceful summer’s eve, before the creaking, heavy blues-groove of ‘100 years’ permeates through the thickets and reminds us that here is a band that can crank it up when they want to. Ending on a high note with the band’s best impression of the Beach Boys on LCD,‘Try To Understand’ is a ramshackle, ambling gem of a pop song, with a melody that will lodge in your cranium and insist you hum it to the point where a total stranger will set upon you with a lead pipe – it’s all good though, because you’ll still have it stuck in your head even mid-coma.
For fans of Grizzly Bear, Woods and pre-Strawberry Jam Animal Collective, get this album. It is a charming, lo-fi ode to all things summery and organic in the swampy sense of the word. Ganglians take pop music, bury it under two feet of earth, and watch it grow into a gnarled yet blossoming tree destined to sit blowing wistfully in the weary sighs of a dying day… or something like that.
gravityserpent.wordpress.com 