Gareth S. Brown - The Gallows / Royal College O’Surgeons 2xCD
A song cycle of extraordinary emotion, power and precision that's strongly influenced by the likes of Michael Nyman and Phillip Glass. Gareth S. Brown has such a distinctive way with a melody that every composition is fully his own – haunting string and oboe lines glide effortlessly over repetitive percussive xylophone and vibraphone.
The title track is reminiscent of Ryuichi Sakamoto's 'Rain (I want a divorce)’, The Blue Nile's 'Walk Across the Rooftops' and Burial's 'Archangel' in its rain-drenched beauty whilst 'First Re-appearance' takes the minimalist approach to its ultimate conclusion only revealing its warped melody after several minutes of churning loops like a neo-classical take on Third Eye Foundations off-kilter discordance.
The Gallows has grown into a double album so Royal College O’Surgeons, an album compiling tracks recorded during The Gallows and Iron Henry sessions, could also be included.
As well as The Gallows and Royal College O' Surgeons, the first 50 orders received another CD entitled Early Mammals, an exclusive, numbered and hand stamped full length bonus CD, described by Mr Brown as "based on an idea by Brian Eno [...] that doesn't sound anything like Brian Eno". Starting off as a beautiful baroque orchestral piece, it changes and mutates over the course of its 45 minutes into something much more ambient and non-linear, akin to a Morton Feldman sound experiment.
Songs on The Gallows
- An Attack of the Good CAuse
- Listing Vampyre
- Sprung
- Serpent
- Gallows
- Two Herons & Critical Goose
- Tyburn
- First Reappearance
Songs on Royal College O’Surgeons
- Vaults
- Jars
- Great Argonaut
- Son House
- Madrigal
- Earlier, I Thought I Saw John Dee
- Missing Unit
- Specimen
- Sandpiper
- You Musn't Stop Clapping or You Will Die, You Will Die
Reviews
Sandman Magazine
These fascinating compositions reveal an artist carving out a distinctive niche for himself by integrating a variety of styles, ranging from the delicate abstraction of Aphex Twin in his more subdued moments, through the hyperactive folksiness of Yann Tiersen and extending even to the full-blown electronic orchestrations of Ryuichi Sakamoto. Essentially it's straight up modern composition which uses sampled instruments purely, one suspects, to meet the challenge of live performance. The pieces are often lengthy and repetitious but only so as to allow for masterful explorations of theme and texture; the intriguingly titled 'Two Herons & Critical Goose' is a particular delight, urgent and abrasive to begin with but then progressing through several changes of pace and mood, never once sounding laboured or indulgent. Closing number 'First Reappearance' is perhaps a little harder to like, salvaging a warped melody from a sea of churning loops only towards the end of its fourteen minute duration, but nevertheless builds to a satisfying climax for those with the patience to stick with it. A compelling and courageous work.
Boomkat
This limited edition two disc set is the work of Leeds' Gareth S. Brown, a real one-off if ever there was one. Brown's idiosyncratic neo-classicism clearly draws influence from Michael Nyman and Philip Glass, but owes much to a skewed, impressionistic take on 'Englishness', and gothic Victoriana. Spread across these two albums (The Gallows being the main draw, while Royal College O' Surgeons compiles odds and ends, some of which date back to Brown's previous album Iron Henry) you'll encounter mysterious tracts referencing vampires, Elizabethan court magician John Dee and a variety of eccentric, often quite ghoulish sounding musical fantasies. Although you'll notice the use of electronic devices dressed up as real acoustic instruments, that sort of odd, unreal quality lends itself rather well to these compositions. Since these pieces work so well taken as a whole suite, it's hard to single out certain pieces as being particular standouts, although there's undoubtedly a creepy brilliance to 'Gallows' and 'Listless Vampyre'. Excellent.
Norman Records
If my words sound a bit on the over flattering side you probably ain't heard this double header of modern classical beauty, a leap of oceans on from his charming and delightful debut 'Iron Henry'. The sweet, playful music box wonk of that set still remains in the shadows, occasionally used to sprinkle his finely honed Philip Glass-isms, his bittersweet symphonies from a magic dreamland, but this sound is bigger, more epic in scale and he's sounding as if he really shares the same plateau with his mentors.
I can guarantee that if you listen to this album on the headphones, your nerves will tingle, your brain will dance and your heartstrings will be plucked to ecstasy as this music is all enveloping, consuming, alive and delicious like some kind of dawnkissed aural woodland at 6am (but there's a bad squirrel over yonder, in that tree - look and see!)
I'm never one to intellectualise music, it's either good or bad, but Gareth is a real maestro in my heart who pours his love of dizzying minimalism and cyclic repetition into (mostly!) soothing journeys for the soul. Essential for fans of Glass, Aphex, Tezzer Riley, Stevie Reich and Yann Tiersen, 'The Gallows'/'Royal College O' Surgeons' is in a recycled card handmade package from the nice folks at Misplaced Music.
