Gastr Del Sol
The Serpentine Similar

To avoid any misunderstandings, it must be said right away. If I told you that the album I'm reviewing is a masterpiece, I wouldn't be honest with you.

The debut LP of David Grubbs' project (formerly of Bitch Magnet and Squirrel Bait, no less!) is not one of those albums that makes music history, being at least a notch below the heavyweights it draws inspiration from, namely "Spiderland" and "Frigid Stars," the two post-rock masterpieces of the early decade. (I don't need to say who the respective authors are, do I?).

"The Serpentine Similar" is, however, a pleasant, interesting album worth rediscovering, and as such, it should be taken, without the relentless urge to elevate it to a milestone of the genre. It is indeed undeniable that upon hearing the first track, "A Watery Kentucky", it feels like listening to Slint; the pattern is there: chords on a sparse backdrop, exasperated slowness, and sudden reprises, with continuous modifications of the basic structure, and a frozen voice, overly calm and devoid of any pathos. Although the track ultimately says almost nothing new compared to what has already been said in the "slo-core" realm, it still appears as a splendid example of experimentation and exploration of new musical paths. When Grubbs sings, or rather recites, he seems to be in the grip of an urgent desire to change, to abandon the melody he is producing in favor of ever-new solutions. "Easy Company" thus translates into a sort of short nursery rhyme, a playful "divertissement," where he feels free to say a bit of whatever he likes. "A Jar Of Fat", where a piano with an uneasy gait takes the foreground, instead appears dark, gloomy, dominated by a strange underlying malaise.

These are compositions of disarming simplicity, where there is a guitar, a bass, Grubbs' voice, and little else, but it is precisely this simplicity that is the secret of the album's beauty: it is a simplicity that, slyly, lurks in every track, mixed with an unusual restlessness, which ensures that in many places there is a stark contrast between relaxation and nervousness, as in "For Soren Mueller", where guitar outbursts alternate with moments of relative calm. Every "storm" is foreshadowed by the crooked gait of the bass, which seems to "let itself go" slowly. The same goes for the folk of "Ursus Arctos Wonderfilis", characterized by a hobbling march, occasionally alternated with bass loops reminiscent of police films. There is no unity and cohesion of rhythm: the elements seem to be left to chance, the threads disperse without finding their original setting. The last track, "Even The Odd Orbit", with the shapes drawn by the guitar, seems to almost reproduce the "serpentine" of the title, which insidiously threads itself into the track, casting upon it a shadow of existential unease.

The path of post-rock will be long and will see the emergence, from young American independent artists in the following years, of great masterpieces like those of Tortoise, Rodan, or June Of 44. Certainly, those will be absolute masterpieces, and in all probability more influential than this album; nevertheless, "The Serpentine Similar" remains, and will remain, one of the most stimulating documents of the Kentuckian area, imbued with an aura of indelible charm, and even though it is not seminal, it will begin to draw inspiration from it in a few months.