Algernon
Ghost Survelliance

Algernon - "Ghost Surveillance" 2010

Free access to all Tortoise lovers, but also to XTC fans and all those cultured and prepared groups whose attempt is (or has been) to rise above to observe music from the right distance and thus put themselves in a position to create excellent things.

The band is from Chicago and even though they are on their third release, nobody knows anything about them. Yet, they are so cool.

Imagine a real blend of Tortoise in their sunny landscapes and XTC in their more vibrant and gutsy themes. That alone would be enough to scream with pleasure, but there is so much more: first and foremost, there is that jazz foundation, which feels so cultured and intriguing, there is a sublime rhythm often intricate and cerebral, there is that vibraphone that often doubles the guitar and gives open fluidity, there is a great personality, a masterful, precise execution technique, flawless, and then there is that excellent production typical of Cuneiform. Each track is an instrumental story that should be told, each piece has a branched life that develops on its own, surpassing themes, schemes, and labels. Alright (what a drag!) you can talk about post rock, but it would say little, you can talk about jazz, but it would be a descriptive accessory, you could talk about Crimsonian rock, but they would be allegoric flourishes with little sense, you could talk about electronics, landscapes, and ambient, but it would be limiting and even misleading, you could even talk about a hard metal doom noise interlude, but it's just a matter of a few minutes and in the scheme of things, it acts as sparklers lit for New Year's. It's true there is all this and perhaps even more (let's not take away all the surprises).

Something haunting reverberates from the album.

The roles are clear, both in the sound explosion and in the minimalism of a vibraphone, which strikes the bars as if they were the ganglia of a large nervous system. And with each hit, the shock radiates to the center of wisdom, to the center of the immense brain-like being that is music itself. There is something phenomenal, something atypical even in the simplest of chords, there is no verse to remember, no chorus to hum, and yet everything passes through, precisely in an electric way, from mind to heart and vice versa in a continual refreshment, satisfying, meeting the most ancestral needs.

How beautiful it is to get lost in the raw arpeggios of "The Briefing" between new wave, post rock, Canterbury, and English pop. How satisfying it is to whirl on the vibraphone notes and crazy rhythms of "Honey Trap". How fulfilling it is to follow the thematic chases of "Operative Vs. Opposition". How refreshing it is to play with the variety of themes in "Debrief and Defect. How every track has given me full listening pleasure.

sioulette