BECAUSE HE HAS DONE SO GODDAMN MUCH IT IS EASY TO FORGET THAT JIM O'ROURKE WAS IN GASTR DEL SOL, A BAND WHO I ONCE WROTE WERE "THE MOST OVERPRAISED BAND OF THE 1990S" (I WAS ANGRY ONCE).
TO BE FAIR THEY WERE VERY HIGHLY-PRAISED WITH SOME OF THEIR MUSIC IN END OF YEAR LISTS FROM MAINSTREAM MAGAZINES WHEN ALL I HEARD WAS A BUNCH OF FUCKING AROUND. IT DIDN'T HELP THEY WERE CALLED POST-ROCK, A GENRE I WAS WILDLY INTO, BECAUSE I WAS REALLY INTO THE KIND OF POST-ROCK THAT WAS A BIG ATHEIST CRESCENDO. AND GASTR WERE NEVER THAT, NOT EVEN A BIT.
THERE'S A RANGE OF APPROACHES HERE, FROM THE AMERICAN PRIMITIVE BY WAY OF THE ACADEMY OF 'REBECCA SYLVESTER' TO THE ESOTERIC SOUND-ART LIVE FROM A DROWNED SHIP'S HULL OF 'THE SEA INCERTAIN' TO SOMEWHAT 90S POST-ROCK SOUNDING 'HELLO SPIRAL'. EACH SONG IS MUCH MORE DETACHED FROM BEING AN EXACT GENRE PIECE THOUGH.
DAVID GRUBBS, THE OTHER HALF OF GASTR, HUMANISES SOME OF THE LOFTIER ASPECTS OF THE RECORD WITH HIS BECALMED VOICE. SOME OF THE BETTER MOMENTS HERE ARE THOSE THAT SOUND LIKE COLLAPSED BALLADEERING RATHER THAN EXPLORATORY GESTURES.
THE CLOSING SONG (DRY BONES IN THE VALLEY (I SAW THE LIGHT COME SHINING 'ROUND AND 'ROUND) IS A FAIRLY STRAIGHT JOHN FAHEY / ROBBIE BASHO HOMAGE WHOSE 12 AND A HALF MINUTES ARE ENTIRELY PLEASANT. ADD THIS ONE TO YOUR NEXT MIXTAPE OF LONG SONGS THAT DEVELOP NICELY. PLAY IT ON A DRIVE TO NOWHERE.
ON THE WHOLE A MIXED BAG.
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