"If there is such a thing as old school math rock, Glomus are totally into it. In the era where songs rely on a hundred different guitar pedals, the Cookeville-based trio goes back to their roots on their debut album, hooking to a steady sound only shaped occasionally when moderate distortions or a non-intrusive delay appear. That places the spotlight on the compositions themselves, which frees itself from unnecessary distractions.
The album opener “See It Through” is a perfect case of that sound steadiness, boosted further with astonishing performances. A clean guitar with a subtle crunchy touch introduces a fast-paced melody that instantly goes into a math loop. Shortly afterwards, drums and bass gently enter, expanding the boundaries of that mathematical piece into different dimensions that not only balance out together but also make the listener feel comfortable with a fair amount of musical complexity.
Circle also benefits from a remarkable mix, combining simplicity and elegance by situating the bass guitar on the left side, drums at the middle and the guitar on the right spot of the sound spectrum. That may not only resemble their live performances, but also allows the listener to easily focus on any of the instruments at will, which could become an addictive move given the amount of notes per second Glomus is able to deliver.
I find it even hard to describe the incredible flow that comes within the songs. For instance, the second track “Busy Signal” keeps gathering tension during its first minute, and such tension implodes into a masterly bass line, becoming a great foundation on which a distorted guitar solo beautifully stands on, while jazzy drums keep the show more than alive.
Precisely, that seems to be another key factor about Circle: each musician shows unlimited room for creativity as long as it matches the current maths, creating a playful, hypnotical interaction of crystal melodies and suggesting rhythms. They dance together with equal protagonism, respecting each other’s stellar moments for a greater outcome.
Harmonies get extremely beautiful on “Boxcube”, where compelling initial bass chords get counterparted by the guitar, which later on uses the same harmony on a faster tempo, challenged by neat rhythmic displacements performed by the drums in association with the bass. That evolves to an epic ending based on a series of harmony and bar signature twists that seems destined to break the laws of physics. I wonder how long that song took to compose, and how they made such complexity sound so accessible. “Gristleback” is another masterpiece where drums get completely loose from the very beginning as well as rhythm changes that drag the whole band into remarkable freestyle passages.
Unconditionally trusting the unknown may feel uneasy for junior math rock listeners, but letting go gets very rewarding by the end. Confident with what they’ve just achieved, Glomus closes the album with “Alright”, a fast, guitar-driven track that perfectly summarizes the main elements heard before, this time even more elegantly. I kept waiting for an album like this for a long time. Circle builds up something big, maybe even bigger than what the band may think. To deeply reach several musical dimensions simultaneously is complex and Glomus seem to be natural-borns on it."
-- Toni Feliu
credits
released July 14, 2018
Glomus lives in Cookeville, TN and is:
Mike Littrell: Guitar
Cale Koester: Bass
Brad Schroeder: Drums
Recorded/Mixed/Mastered by Mikey Allred at Dark Art Audio in Nashville, TN
Glomus is a three piece instrumental rock band from Cookeville, TN drawing on the angular momentum of math rock, the layered
texture of post rock, and the meanderings of prog. Or it's just three pals happy to have found a group where their idiosyncrasies of style and approach line up nicely....more
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