ARTIST: Sgt.
TITLE: Capital of Gravity
LABEL: Penguin Market
GENRE: Instrumental Rock
BITRATE: 215kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 0h 41m total
RELEASE DATE: 2009-10-07
RIP DATE: 2010-01-22
Track List
----------
1. Kalliope 2:27
2. Apollo Program 6:57
3. Tears Of Na-Ga 8:24
4. Ant's Planet 4:53
5. Epsilon 10:19
6. Ginga No Shasoh Kara (Reprise) 8:20
(Tyme. Remix)
Release Notes:
http://www.myspace.com/sgtofficial
The members of sgt. fall into a lineup a bit more like that of a jazz quintet
than a traditional rock band. Drummer Hitoshi Ono and bassist Kouji Akashi form
the band's solid backbone, proving the beat and pulse. Guitarist Hironori Taoka
also falls into this role, merely fleshing out the band's sound rather than
performing any virtuosic feats on the fretboard. Violinist Mikiko Narui most
often falls into the role of soloist, taking the place of a saxophone or
trumpet. She also takes the melody almost exclusively, in those rare cases when
there is one to take.
sgt. isn't exactly well known for short, pithy and easily digestible songs.
That's not to say that they're overly infatuated with creating inscrutable,
million changes-a-second math rock or imposing sonic mountains. Their songs are
more like a walk down a long, dimly lit path near stormy seas than any sort of
road-map like the more universal language of verse chorus verse chorus bridge
chorus chorus.
Having said that, Capital of Gravity, sgt's third mini-album (available now at
HearJapan) is even more likely to get distracted and wander around that path
than their previous releases.
After "Kalliope," the brief introduction, the band jump full force into "Apollo
Program." It's a song that has all of the band's most bold hallmarks, from its
relentlessly looping rhythms, to its fuzzed out guitars and heavily effected
violin wails. "Teas of Na-Ga" brings in guest musician Keisaku Nakamura on
piano, the first sign of Capital's broader sound pallet. The song quietly
percolates along until the break mid-way in where the piano drops out and things
get back to the usual frenetic pace. "Ant's Planet" pushes things into an
overtly upbeat direction with, again, a jaunty piano riff, some squelchy synth
noise and even a few hand-claps and sampled laughter.
The length of "Epsilon," 10 minutes and 20 seconds, and its proximity to the
former peppy and (relatively) short song, should be easily recognized indicators
of its corresponding "far out" ness. It is indeed the most free-form and
improvisational track on Capitol, and even included another guest musician,
Nobuo Ootani, on saxophone. The song does find a sort of coherence near the end
as the band starts to gel back together, then again explodes into space at the
end. It's also a great lead-in to the final track, a remix of "Ginga no Shasou
kara," a song from the band's first release, by Tyme. Unlike so many other
remixes, this one doesn't feel tacked on or at all out of place with the rest of
the album. It's a muscular, throbbing space-out.
Capital of Gravity shows a band in full control of its skills, as well as its
own vision. While the album does breathe a bit more than their previous
releases, it is still very much under sgt.'s control. They allow themselves time
to explore their own unique sound while still staying within sight of the road
they've chosen to take. It's up to you to choose whether or not to follow them
down that twisted path.