Grand Gestures:
Volumes 1, 2 and 3:
Chute Records:
CD/DD:
Out Now:
Regular Spare Snare frontman Jan Burnett has been nurturing this side-project trilogy for the past few years now, to the point where this feels more like a full-time hobby, a labour of love. The premise is simple - Burnett provides the bare bones of the mainly lo-fi electronica music, invites friends and friends of friends as contributory guests and lets them run verbal riot with songs or poetry, often recorded in bathrooms, bedrooms, lounges, in fact whatever comes to mind at the time. Who needs a studio, anyway?
The various pals enlisted during the making of these three engaging albums include one-time 4AD artists Emma Pollock, humourist Sanjeev Kohli, Danny Wilson's Gary Clark, RM Hubbert and many more, all chosen for either being associates of Burnett or just damned talented enough to add something worthwhile to the party.
Musically, it's all impossible to pigeonhole. On the first volume (black and white sleeve - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆), you get the chilling A Certain Compulsion with Emma Pollock, the ravey-davey Baiting featuring Calamateur and the country-esque Deer In a Cross Hair with Sparrow and the Workshop's Jill O'Sullivan (who features on all three volumes). Kohli's I Wonder What Chris De Burgh Is Doing Right Now raises a smile, but his The Ballad Of SW19 tests patience at over fourteen minutes in length.
Number two (grey and black sleeve - ★★★★★★★★☆☆) kicks off with Daybreak (again with O'Sullivan) which sounds like New Order's rumbling instrumental Murder revisited, while Hubbert's Regret Is A Dish Best Served Cold is by turns unsettling and toe-tapping. Pollock steals the show with the minimal Running With Scissors and special mention goes to author Tom Doyle for crooning convincingly on The Start Of The Landslide and Burnett's own dabblings in dub, Bovell-style, on The Emotion Game, fine turns both.
And so to 2014's volume three (white and black sleeve - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆). Once again, Jill O'Sullivan provides elegiac vocals on her contribution, this time Compos Mentis the opening track. Gary Clark's distorted vocal graces forthcoming single The World Will Break Your Heart (I can imagine Paul Buchanan trilling this one) while melancholia aficionados will cosy up to Andrew Mitchell's really gorgeous In To The Darkness We Go (THIS ought to be a single, quite honestly).
The most alluring thing about all three albums is the unexpected can always be expected, even after several listens, even if you don't 'get' what The Grand Gestures is all about. Seek them out at the outfit's Bandcamp page
Volumes 1, 2 and 3:
Chute Records:
CD/DD:
Out Now:
The various pals enlisted during the making of these three engaging albums include one-time 4AD artists Emma Pollock, humourist Sanjeev Kohli, Danny Wilson's Gary Clark, RM Hubbert and many more, all chosen for either being associates of Burnett or just damned talented enough to add something worthwhile to the party.
Musically, it's all impossible to pigeonhole. On the first volume (black and white sleeve - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆), you get the chilling A Certain Compulsion with Emma Pollock, the ravey-davey Baiting featuring Calamateur and the country-esque Deer In a Cross Hair with Sparrow and the Workshop's Jill O'Sullivan (who features on all three volumes). Kohli's I Wonder What Chris De Burgh Is Doing Right Now raises a smile, but his The Ballad Of SW19 tests patience at over fourteen minutes in length.
Number two (grey and black sleeve - ★★★★★★★★☆☆) kicks off with Daybreak (again with O'Sullivan) which sounds like New Order's rumbling instrumental Murder revisited, while Hubbert's Regret Is A Dish Best Served Cold is by turns unsettling and toe-tapping. Pollock steals the show with the minimal Running With Scissors and special mention goes to author Tom Doyle for crooning convincingly on The Start Of The Landslide and Burnett's own dabblings in dub, Bovell-style, on The Emotion Game, fine turns both.
And so to 2014's volume three (white and black sleeve - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆). Once again, Jill O'Sullivan provides elegiac vocals on her contribution, this time Compos Mentis the opening track. Gary Clark's distorted vocal graces forthcoming single The World Will Break Your Heart (I can imagine Paul Buchanan trilling this one) while melancholia aficionados will cosy up to Andrew Mitchell's really gorgeous In To The Darkness We Go (THIS ought to be a single, quite honestly).
The most alluring thing about all three albums is the unexpected can always be expected, even after several listens, even if you don't 'get' what The Grand Gestures is all about. Seek them out at the outfit's Bandcamp page