So, recently we’ve gotten weird. Lets get crushingly depressed. Giles Corey is the solo project of Have A Nice Life’s Dan Barrett. If you’re unfamiliar with them, check that out as well. They are an amalgam of post-punk, shoegaze, drone-y ambiance.
With this self titled album, Dan explores some very heavy issues and feelings. Loneliness, depression, and suicide are all pervasive themes. There is an eerie fog of reverb surrounding many of the songs. Even the more straight forward acoustic parts are still drenched in a creepy, brooding sensation.
There will be quiet moments. There are moments with choir and orchestrated swells. Pained groans, forlorn howls, screams, shouts. The vocals sometimes drop deeper into the mix, letting the atmosphere take the forefront. It truly feels like peeking into the mind of an incredibly wounded soul.
I'm not gonna say much more. This is one that really needs to be fully experienced.
I oscillated between enjoying this album and feeling indifferent towards it. It felt a little bit overwrought and emotional...which works some times, and other times feels almost too cinematic. To that end, it felt kind of like a flim soundtrack at times. Just a bit hard for me to get into. I sort of liked the quieter tracks more as a result. Also, did the beginning of the album scare the crap out of anyone else????
ReplyDeleteFavorite songs:
Grave Filled with Books
Sleeping Heart
I really don't know how to react to this opening track. I think it's a little too much emotion for my liking in music. Due to the nature of this first song, I kind of prematurely assumed the rest of the album would sound like that, so I didn't think I was going to like it at all. As it turns out, the rest of the album is pretty different, and I enjoyed parts of it.
ReplyDeleteGC's voice is a little bland at times, but I really like the acoustic instrumentation. The heavy reverb adds to the melancholy feel and gives the listener a sinking feeling. I really couldn't tell what he was saying on some of the songs, so lyrics weren't my main focus. Maybe that's the intention, though.
You mentioned that this album was about Corey's suicidal thoughts, and I could already tell from the track names that the focus of the album would be a journey into the mind of a depressed person.
I'm sure this album is really awesome for those who can sympathize with Corey, but for me it just didn't click. I like that there's music like this out there, to sort of let people know that other people are going through this. I also think it was probably pretty liberating for Corey to make this, and I hope it helped him.
Wow. What a stressful, chaotic, bummer of an album...
ReplyDeleteI loved it!
Right from the start I'm treated to a song that kind of gives me a feel for the rest of the album. A somber start, themes of death and self harm, and and explosive finish. I really think The Haunting Presence is a fantastic opening track. Not only does it set the stage for the rest of the album, but the song itself does a great job conveying the inner torment Corey faces.
I could probably say a little something about every song on this album, but I'll try to limit it to just my favorites.
I dug Empty Churches a lot. It felt like a well needed break from the rest of the album's crushing themes without really feeling out of place. I also just love ghost stories I suppose.
No One Is Ever Going To Want Me is probably my favorite track on the entire album. I'm a sucker for songs with long and strong builds, which this very much has. It starts as one of the slower tracks on an album full of slow tracks, but suddenly blasts the listener with a fantastic line. "I wanna feel like I feel when I'm asleep!" is so utterly crushing for its sentiment of the only comfort he has when devastatingly depressed. I love this ending.
My one criticism is that the mixing seems a little off on this album. There are several tracks where the vocals are shoved so far under everything else that I can't for the life of me understand a single word being said. I get that in many cases this is a stylistic choice, but there are times where it just becomes annoyingly straining.
All in all this is one of my favorite albums suggested so far!
There are parts of this album I really really enjoyed and other parts that I feel very "meh" about. The theatrical songs (like Empty Churches and The Haunting Presence) really didn't click with me at all. I agree with Sam that some tracks were too cinematic and as a result it was difficult for me to get what they were about. But holy shit, Sleeping Heart is such a beautiful song! I love the simplicity of the guitar and his haunting vocals; it was a stand out for me from the rest of the tracks.
ReplyDeleteI also had the same critique as Erik. It felt like his vocals in some of the tracks were too overshadowed by the instrumentals so listening to them was difficult for me. I think overall I get how many of the stylistic choices he made for a reason but sonically it didn't really move me in a particular way.