On
You Must First Learn to Draw the Reel,
Gravitar free their guitars and let the drums do the fighting. Expanding upon the more subtle moods hinted at on
Now the Road of Knives, Geoff and Mike Walker's six-strings are eerily lush and expansive. Notes nourish each other in constant growth, painting haunted, ethereal sonic visions that are flighty and evolving. It is up to Eric Cook, on drums, to propel
Gravitar's trademark tension, and he does so with manic vigor; the intensity of "U.R.R."'s eight-minute jazz-drum workout is doomed to understatement. Harsh, effect-ridden vocals also weave in and out of
Reel's abstract playland, a place where dub, jazz, and
the Stones mingle freely, loudly, and amorphously. More cerebral than
Now the Road of Knives, yet equally visceral,
You Must First Learn to Draw the Reel quite simply expands the possibilities. ~ Matthew Kantor