Grumsling
A Church, On a Boat, In the Sea
(Self-Released)
A new EP from this San Francisco band that was tracked in live studio sessions to 1” tape and mixed directly from the board to DAT stereo tracks without any digital manipulation/ autotune/ ProTools to give you a chance to hear a real band for a change. A Church, On a Boat, In the Sea was tracked during full band sessions on the Winter Solstices of 2014 and released on the following spring equinox in deference to Grumsling.
You get five new tracks of their mix of indie/alternative/spacey rock music that grabs you and won’t let your ears go. Right out the gate and we’re led into “Tree”. The song is a bit mellow to start, but slowly builds and becomes even more thrilling as it continues and the whole band sings together, giving it a nice crescendo that finally comes back down to end the song. “Pre Game” has a touch of funk to it, a nice groove that isn’t too heavy, but keeps a nice pace to it which leads into “The Game” and continues the smooth sound and awesome bass playing. “Roberta Sparrow” is relaxed and has great guitar and keyboard playing. The synthesizer adds a lot to the song and gives it a new wave/prog rock feel to it. “Lightning” which would sound great in an early ‘70s mix with its mix of funk, jazz and swirling rock music that gives it a Pink Floyd feel and is possibly the highlight of the EP.
You can hear the band maturing and growing, but not trying to be something that they’re not, a pretentious band, they are keeping things grounded and still moving forward. This band has so many textures and takes you into a sounds cape that you instantly want to disappear into and never come back from. (Rick Ecker)
Purchase A Church, On a Boat, In the Sea here.
