Exposé issue 27

Gramercy by Michael Ezzo

A Latvian friend of mine recently sent me this CD - lo and behold it winds up a course at the Exposé roundtable. Glad to partake !

There aren't many guitarists I have heard who play electric with nylon-string guitar technique. But the Syomin brothers in Olive Mess do just that. They proffer a sweetly bright and cleansed timbre, a refreshment from the sludgey stuff out there, which frustrates any attempt to pick out subtleties such as the drummer's cymbal work or the bass player's tonal quality. This clarity comprises one half of the group's style source, one which is difficult to pin influences on. Ilze Paegle's singing is probably the second constituent to what gives Olive Mess a stamp of ingenuity. Her voice is a tad startling at first meeting, but soon the ear warms to it, especially after fully absorbing the extent of her formidable abilities. The whole band as weIl plies an understated kind of calling of clear and finely crafted melodic adventure, if at times somewhat sluggish in the drum department. For some reason I am reminded in parts of that wonderful album Veci by the Czech group Combo FH. Truly a delicacy that's out of step with the powerhouse music popular today, Gramercy helps to fill a gap that needs to be further explored.

Michael Ezzo



Gramercy by Jim CHOKEY

To my knowledge, Gramercy is the first album by the strangely-named Latvian ensemble known as Olive Mess. The band is a six-piece, with a slightly unusual lineup of vocals, keys, bass, drums, guitar, and archlute. As one might expect given the regular use of an archaic lute, there's a medieval/early music feel here -especially on the 22-minute long "Stefan, the Shepherd Boy" (a ballad about the children's crusade) and "The Holly and Ivy Girl" (loosely on the Christmas carol). Those doses of minstrelsy, however, are only one part of the band's sound -and this makes comparisons to bands like Gryphon, the Vital Duo, etc. somewhat tenuous.

There are, for instance, heavy Crimson touches during the instrumental sections, where the bass/drums/guitar interplay often resembles that on Starless and Bible Black. Additionally, the compositions are punctuated with unusual avant-garde elements - or, perhaps more precisely, with elements that seem so deliberately out-of-place as to sound avant-ish. Ilze Paegle's vocals on the title track are a case in point. Although she's a competent soprano with solid classical training, the intense operatic singing she does at the beginning of the title track is contextually jarring. Later on, when she starts doing beatnik style spoken word poetry (in English) and then wailing and warbling in a shrill and slightly out-of-tune manner in the same song, it can get downright grating a la Dagmar Krause. Nevertheless, I suspect that is exactly the effect that was intended.
An intriguing, if slightly perplexing, release.

Jim CHOKEY



Gramercy by Mac BEAULIEU

This band from Latvia's unusual name is a play on the name of twentieth century French composer Olivier Messiaen. Early performances of Crimson's "Larks Tongues," "Red," and "Pictures of a City" give a clue as to where they launch their avant-garde elements from. Now add Univers Zero, a bit of Nebelnest, and alternate a good dose of traditional-based music. This mess of facts makes aIl the more sense when considering the medieval French themes of the songs. The disc consists of 5 songs: two relatively short instrumentals and three long multi-part tracks with numerous changes and instrumental sections, but what stands out undoubtedly, are the vocals of Ilze Paegle. Her classically-trained, opera quality soprano is a wonder to behold, especially in the context of the ambitious aural vision of the music. At times the music is unabashedly avant-garde, other times it's traditional medieval. Interestingly, when they go into 'traditional' mode, they retain the kit drums and often the electric guitar. The sounds that cement the old character are classical guitar, archlute, and baroque guitar, along with simulated pipe organ. It makes for a fascinating journey that adventurous listeners should sign up for.

Mac BEAULIEU