CRESCENT
By the
roads and the fields
CD/LP,
Fat Cat
From time to Crescent remind me a lot of – now hold your breath – The
Doors in their pseudo-spiritual live-jams / drones, especially when the
drums get into that soft psychedelic groove that uses a lot of toms and
bongos, the organ hums away endlessly and the singer starts to recite lyrics
with a lot of echo on his mic. Just listen to “fountains” and you’ll
know right away what I mean. Other songs are more experimental, especially
the next to last track on this album, “mica”, which is an instrumental
exploration into the sounds of interacting chimes and wooden bells. Whereas
the eighth and last track, “structure and form” uses an almost jazzy
drum-rhythm and chord-change to get back to the model.
Crescent are firmly rooted in the “new psychedelic” or “postrock”
movement that started in the mid-nineties in Bristol that included bands
such as Flying Saucer Attack, Third Eye Foundation or Amp, and all members
of Crescent have been or are still working with some these bands. What
connects these bands, which are ranging from deliberately lo-fi and
improvised guitar-noise to digital and pre-structured electronic music, is a
sense for letting music develop on its own terms, never speeding up or
pressing the songs to become something they are not. Therefore each and
every instrument, harmony or sound is important, scrutinized and used only
if really necessary. And because Crescent have been on and off this thing
for over ten years now, they have become quite immersed in their music, and,
even though they are far from prolific, very good at it.
The predominant tone of these songs is one of sleepy drowsiness, but the
revolutions and explosions are here. The listener has to get into these
songs, has to fall into the same flow as the musicians – the ideal
situation in almost any artist-recipient-connection – and then he is in
for an adventurous ride. A strategically placed harmony line, a
bobbing-bass-chord, the almost spastic clinker-clanker of some indefinable
percussions mixed with single high piano-notes, will become a cemented basis
for a wonderful trip.
