A Sunny Day In Glasgow – Ashes Grammar

When their first album dropped in early 2007, A Sunny Day in Glasgow barely registered at all on the new music radar. This is a huge shame as Scribble Mural Comic Journal was one of the most original and exciting debuts since TV on the Radio’s Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes. For their sophomore album, Ashes Grammar, they have thankfully retained their unconventionality and crafted a record worthy of inclusion among this year’s best.

Despite their name, A Sunny Day In Glasgow are not part of the crop of anthemic Scot-rockers currently making the rounds on blogs and hipster iPods across the country. This Philly-based quartet, though, certainly has its share of similarities with some of the older bands that call its namesake their home. From My Bloody Valentine they take the shoegazer sound and the ethereal high-pitched vocals, in this case courtesy of twins Robin and Lauren Daniels. From Jesus & Mary Chain they borrow the dreamy guitar shimmer and reverb-drenched drums on tracks like “The White Witch” and there’s even some hints of twee a la Belle and Sebastian on the more straightforward songs like “Failure.”

As far as contemporaries go, however, A Sunny Day In Glasgow move away from the Twilight Sads and Frightened Rabbits of Scotland and instead strangely find aural kinship with many of the Icelandic bands that have emerged over the last decade or so. The slightly dark, almost sinister tone that weaved itself in and out of Scribble Mural Comic Journal has been replaced on Ashes Grammar by a more angelic feel not unlike that of Sigur Ros and the numerous electronica soundscapes sound similar to Múm.

It’s refreshing to see that real “albums” are still being made in this millennium of the three-minute mp3. Ashes Grammar really needs to be listened to in its entirety to be fully enjoyed. Through its 22 tracks, ranging from the 11 second opener to “Close-Chorus,” a six-and-a-half minute slow burner that has a slightly Massive Attack feel to it.

The only problem with Ashes Grammar is that, unlike Scribble Mural Comic Journal, which included a wide variety of music and distinctly different songs, the sounds here are very homogenized and tend to occasionally bleed into each other on extended listens. Also, while “Shy” and “Ashes Maths” are great songs and would be top notch for a lesser band, nothing on this album can beat the highlight of their debut, “5:15 Train,” a beautiful gem that floats somewhere between waves of soft noise and bursts of pop brilliance. That doesn’t mean, however, that the band can’t still pack an album full of memorable songs and, most importantly, maintain a unique voice that refuses to compromise.

No related posts.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.