Grails

An expanded digital version of a European vinyl release, this album highlights even more shifts in the Grails’ never-stable roster and sound. After returning from a European tour in 2005 violinist Timothy Horner was lost, not to another band but simply lost in haze of vague rumours of homelessness and dissolution. This uncertainty is as good a touchstone for this new album’s dark edges. A European/Indian folk element runs through the pieces with some of the flavour that also informed earlier Godspeed You! Black Emperor with even slighter echoes of Jane’s Addiction circa Ritual de lo Habitual. The one-two punch of "Bad Bhang Recipe” and "Belgian Wake-Up Call” recalls the languid violence of Swans. Digging deeper and even more improbably into the old comparison bag, the album’s overall arc calls to mind Led Zeppelin’s knack for reconciling bluesy dirges and delicate folk under one roof. Despite the plethora of references, Grails are a band in full possession of their own identity and sound, clearly not intimidated by whatever curves fate throws their way.