TAKE REFUGE IN CLEAN LIVING

Short but great anyway! My first relationship to the band. This album has a psychedelic flow provided with a quite intense melancholic touch - exciting when you're interested in floating cosmic, ambient, exotic sounds. Because they started with a clear post rock orientation GRAILS continue to be filed under this category today - but this album does not confirm that correlation. The stylistical bandwith is expanded in the meanwhile. THE FUTURE KINGS OF ENGLAND or SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE are coming into my mind when listening.

We have a quite celestial start with the opener Stoned At The Taj Again - the song title speaks for itself. GRAILS are providing a magical atmosphere at a glance - a song which could be also filed under krautrock. A collaboration of oriental and dark impressions - mysteriously arranged based on some speed variations. Seamlessly associated PTSD takes over this mood - but this evolves not so gloomy furthermore - rather spacey. You will also detect harpsichord impressions, piano interludes, sampled orchestral strings, slight drones and other goodies afterwards.

The Eastern/South European trance folk flavoured Take Refuge should be mentioned especially - played with a lot of variations by bouzouki, trumpet, church organ but also provided with some heavier moments with references to the origin. Sadly faded out - not really understandable considering the album's modest length of 32 minutes. Anyhow, 'Take Refuge In Clean Living' is a close-packed collection of impressions embrassing several styles and requires your full concentration.