ARTiST: Gazpacho
ALBUM: Tick Tock
BiTRATE: 186kbps avg
QUALiTY: EAC Secure Mode / LAME 3.97 Final / -V2 --vbr-new / 44.100Khz
LABEL: Sony Music
GENRE: Progressive Rock
SiZE: 68.52 megs
PLAYTiME: 0h 48min 41sec total
RiP DATE: 2009-03-31
STORE DATE: 2009-03-27
Track List:
--------
01. Desert Flight 7:39
02. The Walk (Part 1) 8:03
03. The Walk (Part 2) 5:39
04. Tick Tock (Part 1) 7:16
05. Tick Tock (Part 2) 9:39
06. Tick Tock (Part 3) 5:30
07. Winter is Never 4:55
Release Notes:
--------
Gazpacho is a rare breed. There have been many attempts to over describe the
music they produce as if to pigeonhole their style but such is a frivolous
endeavour; it just ends up creating a long series of words that when put
together actually describe nothing û so here goes: currently, as a continuation
in style of their last album, Night, it is a dreamy latticework within which a
story is told and stays within the context of a journey.
The first song is Desert Flight and it begins this story with an airplane flight
from Paris to Saigon that crashed in the desert. This story, as described at
www.gazpachoworld.com/news is the real-life experience of writer Antoine de
Saint-Exupery, which formed the basis to his book called "Wind, Sand and Stars".
The music is built up as a sort of auditory walk through the desert. This
beginning seemed pretty fast paced for their current styling and even brought
some of their earlier work to mind. In fact, this cut would have fit on Bravo
quite nicely (previously reviewed here at DPRP.)
From there the similarity to previous albums is relegated to Night only. The
full-bodied textures and spacious production make each individual instrument
easily discernable and that much more integral. For an album that has been
billed as having minimalistic elements, there is a lot going on to create this
atmosphere.
The Walk is a build up segment that definitely takes its time and as such it is
appropriate to the theme of walking through the desert; there is no short way
through the desert when on foot.
The title cut, Tick Tock, runs just under 23 minutes and not a spec of it is
boring or redundant. Consider the statement made by the band when introducing
the general content of the forthcoming album: ôAfter Night the monotonous
repetition of a single bar of music that is changed by the chords and the songs
on top of it still held a seductive charm for Gazpacho and thought Night dabbled
in this, Tick Tock wallows.ö It seems so counterintuitive that such a musical
direction would not only work, but would set themselves up as giants in the prog
field. Hard to imagine, but the success of Night was a real eye opener to the
possibilities of this approach. Tick Tock, while much different than Night,
follows Night with an immediate respectability.
The vocals of Jan-Henrik Ohme are showcased much more in this album than the
past and used more as part of the instrumentation. His vocals are not an
immediate bonus for a new listener but after a listen or two I couldnÆt imagine
any other vocal style to this music.
As mentioned before, there is a lot going on in this album. Many instruments
congeal expertly in the slow paced progressions. Some instruments are quite
foreign to rock (and prog rock in particular) such as the violin, and where many
bands have ventured and under whelmed us, Gazpacho shines beautifully in their
incorporation and introduction of these instruments and effects.
If you are a fan of music that transports you to another place, you will find
nothing better. I, personally, listen to music primarily for this purpose so my
rating will not come as a surprise. I live near a desert and the tactile nature
of their descriptions through sound has a truth and substance to it that is
rarely brought to this level by anyone. The master of this art is Pink Floyd,
and Gazpacho did it without doing anything Floyd has already done. Bravo!