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Album Reviews
Herb Grimaud Jr, the sole person
behind the abstract and droning sounds of The Sound Gallery, follows
up the influential monster that was Designed For Reading with a dark
and brooding 3 track sophomore full-length. Phos...meaning light, as
the album informs us in the jacket, is a 3-part piece of music ("Phos I",
"Phos II", and "Phos III" respectively) dedicated Grimaud's
brother-in-law's friend, who died a tragic death. Grimaud writes
inside the album, "I felt words were a bit trivial. The music on this C.D.
was written as a humble effort to give him comfort during his grieving." And
though no lyrics are sung or spoken (save Lorri Myers contribution on
"Phos II"), the pain and weight of desperation of a broken heart can
be felt on immediate listen. It's only with repeated listening that the
outer layer of darkness is shed and glowing light begins to beam through
grey clouds.
"Phos I" is slow and without much
complexity. "Phos II", the longest of the 3, closing in at over 28
minutes, creates space upon space within itself, and never builds into a
wall-of-sound, as most epic post-rock pieces do. Instead, "Phos II"
is absorbed in hollowness, as if it was the sound of emptiness. There is not
a more painful sound on earth. Heaven arrives with "Phos III", as
distinct brightness is immediately heard with light drones and treatments.
The addition of piano in this final track helps create an atmosphere of
peaceful serenity.
Grimaud unveils himself as a master
of mood and ambient songcraft with this challenging, but openly engaging
trio of sounds.
Highly recommended for fans of:
This Is Your Captain Speaking, Below The Sea, Hammock and Yellow6.
~
Garrett
Johnson
Our site’s belief in The Sound
Gallery’s sophomore full-length CD release, phos, should be evident
in the fact that we, along with Republic of Texas Recordings, released this
CD. That we would put our name and resources behind phos speaks
volumes about our opinion of it. Given our enthusiasm for phos, it
might be difficult for us to write a detached and critical review for the
disc. Perhaps the reader, though, will be slightly comforted to know that:
(a) while Somewhere Cold helped to release phos, it none of our
writers were actually involved in the creative process behind the release,
giving us a sense of distance from the project, and (b) we were already
wowed by a non-Somewhere Cold release from The Sound Gallery, the 2004 debut
full-length Designed for Reading. So, it is from the vantage point as
a music fan with an expectation for another quality release that I approach
phos for this review.
The Sound Gallery is Herb Grimaud Jr., an experienced bassist and songwriter
who’s bounced from band to band for over a decade in Southern California’s
fertile music scene. He formed The Sound Gallery as a means to explore his
own musical ideas, enlisting other gifted artists to help. After releasing
Designed for Reading, a CD with a plethora of guest performers and
featuring various takes on ambient-drone post-rock music, Grimaud Jr.
learned of the passing of his brother-in-law’s close friend. As a way to
offer condolences and comfort to his brother-in-law, Grimaud Jr. created the
singular and minimalistic phos. phos stands starkly in
contrast to the more varying Designed for Reading. With three tracks
of wordless, subtle ambient music, phos shows The Sound Gallery more
focussed than the previous effort. What phos may seem to lack in
variations, though, is illusory, as careful repeated listens reveals
slow-moving and ever-morphing layers of music.
“phos I” is the most subtle of the three tracks, offering strands of
empathic dark guitar drones. Grimaud Jr. reveals himself to be a master of
ambient texture, and the listener immediately gets lost in the folds of his
guitars. The sounds subtly mutate throughout the piece, creating a sense of
movement. As the track drifts towards its ending, the listener is left
satisfied, having been taken on an all-encompassing journey by The Sound
Gallery.
“phos II”, the undeniable emotional climax of phos, begins with
terrifying back-masked samples of eerie vocals, followed by a thunderous
repeating boom that alone is worth the price of the CD. The splendid attack
on the listener’s senses gradually fades into more drones, but the drones on
“phos II” feature more movement and variation than on “phos I”. The
thunderous boom reappears as a distant rumble throughout the 28 minute
track, as do haunting vocals by Lorri Myers. phos II is intense, foreboding
and chilling, demonstrating how gripping ambient music can be. The 28
minutes pass away leaving the listener both exhausted and craving more of
Grimaud Jr.’s study of death, decay, and darkness.
“phos III” is a brighter and ultimately more hope-inspiring track and
feature a delicate piano melody meandering throughout the brighter drones. A
muffled drum machine even appears late on in the song to give it further
direction on this, the most structured track on phos. The foreboding
darkness of the earlier tracks are here replaced by a gentleness and
lightness, and while the music remains sullen, it ultimately projects peace
and tranquility onto the listener.
Taken as a whole, phos is an impressive 54 minutes of understated
drone music. On this merit alone, phos stands as a release worthy of
discriminating ambient music lovers. However, the added element of real-life
tragedy, and the way Grimaud Jr. deftly and sensitively handles the grim
subject matter, shines a whole new light on phos. In the end, phos
empathizes with the grieving listener, validating their pain and making no
light of death while offering hope and a perspective from which to move on
from, all without trite lyrics. phos is an intensely personal and
highly aesthetic release, not only impressing the listener’s overwhelmed
ears, but engaging the listener’s soul. Highly recommended.
~
Brent
The Sound Gallery
(homepage)
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