This new band is one to watch grow. A blend of driving rock and elegant violin subtly brings the music together. One recalls the sounds of early Dave Mathews Band or Jars of Clay, but much faster and harder likening perhaps more to the Stone Temple Pilots. We even here the sort of minor high string plucking that Modest Mouse made its signature, but here it is more subtly applied. Despite all these random comparisons, the Gravel Undertone is forging its own new sound.
The lyrics and vocals of Sean Thompson are reminiscent of alternative roughly ten years ago, but not in a bad way. His tone is rough and raspy at times, yet has the capability to soar into near operatic power. However, at times the music floods over his voice & one must strain to hear the words. Though many bands revel in the mystery of their lead singer’s accent, this is more a sound problem. Sometimes the guitars and violin just crowd out the vocals. Also a strange effect on the voice may be responsible. However, when well leveled, the main vocals as well as Nick Edwards backup, harmonize in new and intriguing ways, both with wide vocal ranges. Sometimes they both sing different phrases, then join together back in synchronicity at the chorus; a very technically difficult thing to do while each playing an instrument & mostly well executed. On occasion their vocals remind me of Scott Weiland, a bit withdrawn, yet still rough and strong when they want to be. We hear this quality in phrases like “Whatever happened to fire and brimstone?” on “In The Name Of…” where the song seems to explode. All the same, improved diction & more confidence couldn’t hurt them.
That being said, the lead singer definitely has some pitch problems. Thompson has some where along the line gained an annoying habit of sliding on notes and extending the wrong notes into diphthongs. Sometimes it is to his credit, especially when he’s in his sort of metal whisper sound. Much of the time, however, it works against him, leaving his stranded and out of tune at the beginning of long notes, but still getting in tune by the end. He needs to speed up his resolution to the right key, then cadence. All new artists, please stop going into a cadence before hitting the right note. Tune first, then go wild, then get back in tune. With a little polish there is tremendous potential here for some real bluesy vocal performances. But the sliding flat and sharp notes are unprofessional at best.
There is a lot going on in this album. Gravel seems to have energy to spare, their songs are so fully packed with changes & complex solos. This is normally a good thing, but more often then not the music all blurs together with too much confusion. Many times simply slowing down a bit & letting some of the instruments have a more individualized voice would help. There are simply too many instances where everyone is playing, singing and cymbals are crashing making a melody indiscernible. If they would just back off a bit and progressively build to these points rarely it would be perfect. Instead the crashing is at times sporadic and random, as though the drummer just couldn’t take it any longer and needed to hit everything he had over and over through the chorus.
“French Fetish” is a striking departure from “In the Name of…” with a more contemporary blues feel that sometimes even breaks down into a sort of renaissance courtyard dance, –plucking violin strings- the song takes a turn for metal by the end, and it works! Again here I really enjoy the tone of the lead singer, but can barely understand anything he’s saying.
Not enough can be said about the instrumental capability possessed by Gravel Undertone. Their fierce guitar duos with violin madness that never miss a beat, instrumentals never going out of tune, are incredible. Hiroko Matsuda is a classical genius playing fiddle in an alternative band. Some of the techniques he must use to keep up with the band make my fingers hurt just thinking about them. And despite my earlier comparisons to other bands, their sound is still totally their own, seemingly due to Matsuda’s impeccable violin leading the procession, instead of lead guitar, which is a refreshing change. Tie all this together with Benjamin Manning’s wild drumming and Edward’s awesome bass lines, and it all sounds amazing. Set aside for a moment that they get into musical crashes, & the majority of the EP is solid and consistent. Even though those crashes are a bit amateur now, later it could be what’s most interesting about their style if they can only figure out how to wield the noise appropriately with rare progression to it. The musical experiments now found in their new EP are a great indicator of their potential and fearlessness in the eyes of creativity. In spite of my nitpicking, I can’t wait to hear the full album & the future of Gravel Undertone.
Gravel Undertone - Gravel Undertone EP
2009 Gravel Undertone
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