DEEP POLITICS

Is ambient music still considered as such, when it is backed up by strong and tightly woven songwriting? Meet the band Grails, a band that has been called everything from psychedelic to post-rock. Although certainly close to many other bands in terms of sound, Grails' 2011 bout into the music scene does set them apart as an intriguing act in atmospheric rock. Scooping up some acclaim across the board for the latest album 'Deep Politics', Grails create an instrumental journey that stays interesting and engaging throughout. In doing so, the band has created a likely candidate for the soundtrack of some non-existent film.

Each track here has a very spacey, atmospheric feeling to it. Whether it's the dense arrangements and orchestrations between string sections, guitars, and electronics, or the clever use of psychedelic effects, Grails sounds quite often like complex ambient music. When it comes to melody, there is substance here, but its usually not so straightforward as much music might tend to allow. Instead, 'Deep Politics' seems to be an album that aims to give the most relaxing experience it can, taking its time to get where its going. The fact that this is an instrumental album also allows it to work perfectly as background music, although the intent and engaged listener can choose to have just as pleasant an experience with it as he would otherwise.

Although things are very atmospheric, there is also a strong sense of songwriting. Each song maintains a level of good direction to it; no matter how spacey the ordeal gets, there is never a shortage of the feeling that the music is going somewhere. Of course, these songs (which have stylistic influences ranging from Indian raga music to chilled jazz) have a lacking in excitement that would commonly associate them with this sort of music, the instrumentation is played surprisingly well, with the eastern-tinged violin sections sticking out particularly well.

Grails opens up 2011 with a very strong note, and although I'm not the most experienced listener of ambient-leaning music, 'Deep Politics' does enough to both soothe me, and hold my attention.

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