Though we'll be getting under the hood and taking a look at some individual tracks on these Portland, Oregon instrumentalists' newest dose of chakra-realigning rock-- their third full-length, not counting a bunch of EPs and 12-inches-- there really ain't much of a need. Not because these densely packed astral-traveling psych- and Arabic-spiced jams aren't worthy, but because the Grails craft sprawling long players to be digested in one long gobble, much like the old-school lava-lamp-dripping and incense-burning albums of yesteryear. Songs subtly and dynamically build, flow, spiral, and explode-- following a similar formula as the band's most-likely signature influence Godspeed You! Black Emperor-- but unless one is paying close attention and is able to fight off the warm and fuzzy mistiness, one is unlikely to notice when the seven-minute-long tunes morph into a new jam. It's all about the LP, the kaleidoscope-turning ride-- and in this age of digital music, you don't even have to get up outta the beanbag to flip the side!
If they haven't already, as the most excellent opening track, "Soft Temple" signifies, Grails really need to do soundtracks: light tribal drums introduce a Middle Eastern-sounding something-or-other (sounds like a banjo, but probably ain't) that gets hazed out by random percussion clouds and swirling guitar vapors; things chill in the opium den for awhile until galloping drums and a triumphant, melodic electric six-string signals the charge for higher ground. Another track to riff on world music modalities is the stormy, and-- gotta say it again, quite GY!BE-y-- "Silk Rd" that bellows out Indian drone (most likely from a sruti box) with serpentine sitar lines and electric axes that once again swell into an epic, tide-is-turning attack. Both numbers are totally cinematic, smartly layered, and quite unusual in that-- as California public radio station KFJC once perfectly coined-- "Tibetan crime jazz" sorta way.
Keeping up the wide-screen vista themes, I'm guessing the Grails are intentionally aiming for such highly visual and ambient fare, but most notably because several pieces seem to vibe film score maestro Ennio Morricone. There's the title track, where piano and sun-drenched desert standoff guitars flip between the Western and the Middle-Eastern and then hit a crescendo with Bolero-blazing Spanish horns and Zeppelin III folky fretboard jangles. Or "Origin-ing", once again, tumbleweed-rolling via spaghetti-western accents and harmonica, but sounding like Morricone signed on one of the several atmospheric hovercraft rockers found on the Temporary Residence roster (Mono, Explosions in the Sky, Envy) for super-charged pick-me ups. Fans of Mogwai, Grails collaborators Red Sparowes, and the whole mostly non-metallic side of the instrumental-gaze school should freak on Burning Off Impurities, but considering their high-minded (both meanings) multi-instrumentation and multi-cultural scope, this Portland five-piece just may be the best, or at least most novel.
