I recently had a conversation with a friend in which we talked about new media and broadband entertainment. I felt that that whatever happens when the Web and TV merge for good, it won't make anybody happier. I said that my present Internet experience gives me what I need-- even over a 56k modem I can read news, check out music, and so on-- and I don't feel like I'm wanting. And my friend said that you never know what you need until somebody gives it to you.
Something similar seems to have happened with instrumental rock. Ten years ago, there was very little of the stuff around, and nobody seemed the worse for it. There was fusion, sure, but the only fusion people would admit to liking back then had much more to do with jazz and funk-- stuff like Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock. True rock instrumentals were limited to surf bands, and the occasional side-long prog opus. The prospect of instrumental rock music back then actually seemed pretty damned boring. Then Slint came along and changed things, and Tortoise finished what they started. These days, most indie rock children need some instrumental music in their collections, even though they'd never have considered it in 1990.
This brings us to Billy Mahonie, an instrumental rock band from the UK. One thing I've learned from listening to bands like Mogwai (whom Billy Mahonie have been compared to) is that you need to hear some records a half-dozen times or more before they mean anything. Mogwai's last full-length, in fact, is still keeping me at arm's length, even after having owned it for nearly a year. Similarly, the first few passes through Billy Mahonie's The Big Dig reminded me of chugging a glass of warm water when you're not even thirsty. But the more I listened to it, the more often interesting subtleties kept popping up.
Billy Mahonie don't bring anything new to the table, and The Big Dig certainly isn't going to change anybody's life, but this is definitely a solid album. These guys can all play (guitar, two basses, drums) and they have a knack for solid riffs and catchy guitar leads. But since they don't rock very hard and aren't into studio manipulation (my favorite part of the Mogwai experience), the prettiest tracks on The Big Dig are the best. Of these, "Drago" is the most immediately engaging, with a wandering, wistful melody that begs for soft, pleasing visuals.
"William Derbyshire" has a gently uplifting chord progression that glows extra bright with ringing acoustic guitar accents. More uptempo but equally as effective is "Watching People Speaking When You Can't Hear What They're Saying," which layers slide guitar right out of U2's "Bullet the Blue Sky" over a frenzied, propulsive rhythm before breaking down into a slow, airy section with a lovely guitar melody. And so it seems that while I may not have needed another instrumental rock record in my collection, I wound up enjoying The Big Dig.
