The Grand Gestures - Low Lights - CD - self-released
Don't be fooled by this album's self-effacing title - Low Lights is very much a concise compendium of highlights by Scotland's literary and musical project The Grand Gestures, the occasional project founded and curated by Spare Snare's lynchpin Jan Burnett.
As with Burnett's other band, The Grand Gestures is a low-key D.I.Y. ideology with a big heart and a loud presence, essentially a platform for various guests to contribute words, poems and lyrics to often eerie and disturbing music that might also be suited to soundtracking dark Scottish films like Morvern Callar, Ratcatcher or Shallow Grave. Someone ought to consider making a film based on these tracks - I'd wager it'd be an 18 cert and would involve a bathroom, a microphone and a curry, apparently the same factors that helped piece together these collaborations.
So then here are the hits, all taken from each of the previously issued five albums. Relive the anguish of Sanjeev Kohli pondering over (stalking, perhaps?) What Chris de Burgh Is Doing Right Now, Gary Clark (Danny Wilson) exclaiming in painfully emotional tones that The World Will Break Your Heart and the peerless heartstring-tugging Into The Darkness We Go, sweetly sung by Andrew Mitchell. For gritty kitchen-sink 'n' bedsitting drama, dip into the festive yet acerbic 'Til It Got Christmas from Graham Anderson and Sergeant Claus by John Douglas.
In addition there's The Sailor Of Bari, featuring an unsettling yet humourous monologue from Phil Jupitus and two unreleased edits, not forgetting enagaging slots from RM Hubbert and Emma Pollock and more than a salvo of humour. Low Lights is an otherworldly and unique hoard of delightful misfits. Merry fucking Christmas, indeed.
8/10
As with Burnett's other band, The Grand Gestures is a low-key D.I.Y. ideology with a big heart and a loud presence, essentially a platform for various guests to contribute words, poems and lyrics to often eerie and disturbing music that might also be suited to soundtracking dark Scottish films like Morvern Callar, Ratcatcher or Shallow Grave. Someone ought to consider making a film based on these tracks - I'd wager it'd be an 18 cert and would involve a bathroom, a microphone and a curry, apparently the same factors that helped piece together these collaborations.
So then here are the hits, all taken from each of the previously issued five albums. Relive the anguish of Sanjeev Kohli pondering over (stalking, perhaps?) What Chris de Burgh Is Doing Right Now, Gary Clark (Danny Wilson) exclaiming in painfully emotional tones that The World Will Break Your Heart and the peerless heartstring-tugging Into The Darkness We Go, sweetly sung by Andrew Mitchell. For gritty kitchen-sink 'n' bedsitting drama, dip into the festive yet acerbic 'Til It Got Christmas from Graham Anderson and Sergeant Claus by John Douglas.
In addition there's The Sailor Of Bari, featuring an unsettling yet humourous monologue from Phil Jupitus and two unreleased edits, not forgetting enagaging slots from RM Hubbert and Emma Pollock and more than a salvo of humour. Low Lights is an otherworldly and unique hoard of delightful misfits. Merry fucking Christmas, indeed.
8/10