Gliss: Devotion Implosion

ALBUM REVIEW: Gliss – Devotion Implosion   (Cordless)
words: Jamie Milton — originally scribed for gigwise.com

The title of ‘Devotion Implosion‘ gives enough clues as to this LA-via-Denmark three piece’s intentions. And whilst it could be inferred to suggest Gliss “implode” as to collapse under pressure or to lose control, they actually handle eruptions with class and control.

A wall-of-noise that could be hired as an assassin detonates in ‘Morning Light‘ and remains throughout. Gliss don’t do an awful lot to move from this explosive stance but the decibels scatter between blissed-out, mid-tempo riff-heavy numbers such as the aforementioned opening track and more pop-centric offerings, fronted by Martin Klingman’s vulnerable sounding vocals, examples of which are discovered on ‘29 Acts of Love‘, the song on ‘Devotion Implosion’ that hits you far before the others even consider doing so.

This is what Gliss do quite well. They certainly cite their musical influences (one would state The Jesus and the Mary Chain’s legacy is growing by the year) with honour and respect but they warp what’s been inhaled into a more accessible package than that of the noise-heavy heroes of the past.

“rapturous rock music”

But you can only do so much in that respect. ‘Devotion Implosion‘ is so thick and furry the listener is soon blown away and finds themselves unable to re-access the album. In fact the opening two tracks are enough to win you over but what follows isn’t nearly as invigorating. There’s the sloppy, high-as-a-kite ‘Sad Eyes’, the limited and riff-reliant ‘Anybody Inside’ – but most of this album’s faults don’t come in unforced-errors, it’s more about what’s not achieved under the circumstances. The whole package was there: beautiful artwork that compliments the rapturous rock music to a T, a huge array of fuzz pedals and speaker-blowing amplifiers and one would imagine a decent budget. What could have been a ferocious, merciless pop-rock album from start to finish is instead top-heavy and can’t keep your interest by any means. It’ll take endless listens or solidified concentration to uncover the intelligent and whimsy ‘Beauty‘, Klingman sounding swept away by sex and substances, commanding and attention-luring like Julian Casablancas is on ‘Is This It‘.

And many simply won’t have the time to focus for hours in order to discover the merits of ‘Devotion Implosion‘. Whilst the band make every effort to re-create this skyscraper, blissed-out ilk of rock more listener-friendly and accessible, the genre’s thick skull triumphs and the album becomes an electrocuting fence that wards you off from immersing yourself in it. Regardless, Gliss sound like they had the time of their lives making this and that much is apparent from the off.

6.3

mp3: Morning Light

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Get some music fans in a town hall, make sure they know their stuff, and divide them into “Glasvegas fans” and “Glasvegas I-don’t-geddit’s”. It’s more than likely that the room will be split into a fiery debate, half-and-half in its attendance between lovers and haters. For if you can’t stand Glasvegas, you simply cannot bare the sight of James Allan in his ex-footballer-cum-depressed-jet-pilot look every time he appears on your television screen. Some even go as far as picking on poor little (?) Caroline, the drum-banging, cool-list attendee, static during gigs, not much of a professional but a key element to the band’s clashing, atmospheric sonics. See, if you don’t like Glasvegas, chances are you’re so miffed at their popularity that you’re beginning to become angry. It’s the third in a line of five steps that probably haven’t all arrived at your doorstep quite yet. 1 is confusion, 2 being denial, 3 being realisation and anger, 4 being attempting to form a better band and failing and 5 involves the conclusion of your miserable attempt to ignore them with a heavy throw of a piss-filled bottle at their future festival performances, only to see it land on a butch bloke just 5 metres from your spot.
But if you may be a fan, you’ve an awful lot to smile about…

You can associate Glasvegas with lad rock all you like but they don’t follow the common convention of singing about beer, women and getting laid shamelessly in a drunken haze on a Saturday night (this being a merging between the first two lyrical conventions). No. In fact Allan’s words bring controversial light to sensitive subjects. Hailing from the ironically glossed-up Glasgow, Allan has come to witness the worst kind of homelessness, gangs and anything else the papers love to hate. Believe it or not though, he’s even got a few nasty Christmas memories to share with us.

As the closing chimes of the dooms-day cover of ‘Silent Night’ shimmer in the background, your perspective on Christmas has changed entirely, for better or for worse. A critical introduction to someone “direction-less”, full of “emptiness” harshly pronounces the birth of ‘Careful What You Wish For’, a sparse, chilly bolt of thick ambience. The mini-album then gives its way early on to the centrepiece; ‘Fuck You, It’s Over’, the ultimate anti-Christmas song, shall we say. “All I wanted was to be, Where your heart is” squeals Allan in his unique, exhausted tones of disappointment, frankly told with such energy. Perhaps this is where any cynics might be convinced out of their cabins. Same old, bold riff, same depressed state of mind some might say but this effort, in some way or another, excels above anything else on the debut album.

‘Please Come Back Home’, the only other up-tempo moment on the EP, almost out-does its predecessor only minutes after. Pulsing bass notes thump their way through proceedings as the Scots finally acknowledge some quality in the season to be jolly; “The beauty and the elegance of this time of year…”. The less energetic refrain, through the form of a delicate title-track, is equally as ambitious and equally as captivating. It’s puzzling as to why Glasvegas, for me, are so likeable whereas at one point I was so determined to dislike what I timidly dismissed as “lad-rock-meets-TJAMC”. But they’re more than that. A close inspection and you begin to wonder whether perhaps something special is a-brewing in the middle of this dark, dreary climate…

8.3

PLAY: Glasvegas - Careful What You Wish For (zshare)
PLAY: Glasvegas – A Snowflake Fell (And It Felt Like A Kiss)
[ Buy 'Glasvegas / A Snowflake Fell (And It Felt Like A Kiss)'] (2CD)

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