dredg
Leitmotif

THE REVIEW

Leitmotif is a metaphor, something that accompanies your life. A fixed point, a leitmotif. The truth, the truths of life: this is the reason and purpose of the search of the young protagonist of this concept album, as well as the first full-length album, by dredg (to be pronounced with the G of "garage" and not of "giraffe").

In the "second movement", Crosswind Minuet, it is like witnessing a composition in real-time: a simple and direct drum line precedes the entrance of the bass, which then opens up to the piano groove (played by the drummer himself, Dino Campanella).
After only 1 minute and 32 seconds of listening, enveloped by the hypnotic and sober mix, everything stops to give space to "Traversing Through The Arctic Cold We Search For The Spirit Of Yuta", a sort of acoustic track similar to Acoustic Alchemy (with the necessary differences in composition and sound). A track over 6 minutes long in which the four Californians have fun improvising, leaving the last part to a series of shapeless noises à la radio-frequency-signal style (well, I had to try to explain it lol).

The album flows like a charm. It is very direct and for this reason enchanting. Plus, it's well played: they are not the usual 4 kids grabbing a couple of sticks, some picks, and deciding to make a racket.
At times they remind me of Incubus, for the taste, precision, and the particularly melodic line of the singer Gavin Hayes (hey, at 2:09 of Lechium he really sounds like Brandon Boyd!).

But I don't want to degenerate into easy and useless comparisons. Dredg is a solid group with character. Download Symbol Song (and don’t worry if it cuts off suddenly, it’s a concept!). If it grabs you, then move on to the second, and then the third track. You will end up downloading the whole album and perhaps, like me, you will even order it from your trusted store.

Curiosity and info: the album is from 1999 but was re-released by Interscope in 2001. Release date September 11, 2001. Does it ring a bell? :P