As far as eagerly awaited indie debuts go, it’s hard to think of one more noteworthy than Grammatics in recent years. Whispers around West Yorkshire for the last twelve months of a truly special new band were supported by a string of exceptional singles, building an overwhelming promise of things to come. On March 23rd, the world will finally hear the result of this exemplary group’s efforts. I can’t imagine anyone not being thoroughly blown away.
Living in the same city, operating on the same music scene, as a band that produces a record like this is genuinely humbling. Grammatics is a monumental achievement of an album. It evokes emotions, moods, thoughts and sensations far beyond the grasps of most contemporary artists, while being very distinctly pop music. It’s complex but never unfriendly. It’s achingly beautiful. It is, quite simply, a work of spellbinding genius.
Grammatics excel in seamlessly welding together an abundance of musical styles into a sound that’s very much their own. More impressively, it’s a sound that remains consistent whilst also being incredibly diverse. While listening to ‘Broken Wing’ and ‘Rosa Flood’ in isolation might hint at musical disparity within the ranks, the album flows marvellously, sticking with themes for just long enough to define them, then darting off in another direction at exactly the right pace to keep everything cohesive.
As Owen Brinley’s ethereal, dreaming voice floats over the elegance of the band’s instrumentation and arrangement, flawless in almost every aspect, it’s difficult not to be swept away. Musically, it’s brilliantly self-indulgent, but it’s self-indulgence for the masses – even though the effortlessly poetic lyrics lift these songs far beyond the realms of the heart-on-sleeve emotional manipulation we’re used to hearing.
Few artists, even the most acclaimed, manage to create such a glisteningly mature, astoundingly intricate yet instantly accessible record in an entire career. That Grammatics have managed it on their first go defies belief. This is about as close to a perfect debut as I’ve ever heard.
94%
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The Gramm Tics. Haha.
In other news, its nice to see someone other than me get slightly misplacedly giddy about a debut album for once.
Gramm Tics sound like they would write a song summing up the human condition and mean it, though.
94%?!?!?!
‘kin hell
Less of the score obsession, Rich ;)
The 94 was reasonably arbitrary. I chose a number that said “yeah, THIS is what I want in my music.” Hopefully it doesn’t sound too out of place.
Huh. Wasn’t expecting that level of gush. It’s a good album, though.
Re 94%. Fair enough, Lewis. However, methinks it’ll be Pitchfork bringing the British music press corp. back to earth (again).
A few further notes on the score, just to stop this degenerating into a number-related argument. Not that it necessarily would. Just in case, y’know?
Firstly, I always feel awkward scoring music. Compared to games or films, in which there are technical, mechanistic aspects to objectively consider, there’s very little you can accurately pin down with a numerical value. Commercial releases are always performed and produced to a certain standard, which leaves everything down to a personal engagement with the music.
I love this album. It’s hands-down the best record I’ve heard in the last year, at least. And I’ve heard a lot. So my instinct was immediately to drop a massive score on it. Anticipating an uproar, I contacted Rich, and asked his advice. His response was to say that my decision about the numbers was largely secondary to ensuring the review supported them. So I went for 94. I think that might be the joint-highest score to be awarded at TLOBF, but I wasn’t really thinking like that. It was a two-digit way of expressing how high my impressions of this are.
For someone else, it might be an 80. That’s the way music goes.
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