Exedra is the latest band/project from a certain Mr Jeremy Gluck of The Barracudas and I Knew Buffalo Bill fame amongst many other things along the way. This time, he lines up alongside Darrall Knight who used to be in The Auctioneers.
Their debut album 'Elemental' opens with Sacred Ways, an instrumental piece that gentle caresses you with nice ambient sounds and washes as it leads you into Exedra's world before songs like I Am The Cross add Jeremy's voice intoning all sorts of interesting things about his love or lack of love for you over the ambient guitar and an almost pulsing bass.
I Fell Asleep is a very short piano and strings-framed modern lullaby for people who can fall asleep in less than a minute. It's followed by the driving repetitive riff of Elemental that has lots of interesting details being added over the top of the central riff before Jeremy's laconic vocals come in intoning all sorts of things you might find when you wake up. Not all of them are as good as the intricate little guitar flourishes that build with the song towards some sort of epiphany.
St Sinnner is slow and sepulchral rumination on whether the singer is or is not a sinner over a gentle repeating piano motif and some spectral guitar work. It's a cool song to make you think about if you're good or bad. World Junk has vocals that are reminiscent of The Velvets' Lady Godiva's Operation in the way they are delivered and the second vocalist comes in later, although the subject matter or structure are much more indicative of John Giorno's poetry works with some very cool keyboards sounds and Tibetan bells thrown in for good measure. A very cool song indeed.
Distance has a sort of far off laid back ambiance to it like they are staring off a cliff into the great unknown and trying to figure out what they can see on the edge of the horizon before the lyrics come in and make it sound more like Spiritualized at their most laid back.
Eleanor Gluck's vocals on The Ocean Inside add a slightly detached air to proceedings over a sparse piano and guitar backing. She conjures up a world of ennui and desire no matter how much she says she gives it all to us. The ennui in her voice is full of longing and regret but I'm not certain what for.
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Flash Forward is the most dance-orientated song on the album with a mellow vibe and are those tablas or Bongos? They give it that eastern mystical feel with almost backwards-sounding phasing making it feel rather intoxicating. I'd love to hear this on a big club system with the bass throbbing through my body.
Exotica has a keyboard sound mixed between the cool guitar and strings that almost sounds like it was stolen from a computer game. It's really a side line sound against the building majesty of this piece that ought to soundtrack the messy denouement in a thriller.
The River Underground is almost like a spiritual sermon for the 21st century as so much has been buried like so many of our great rivers in cities like London, which has more underground rivers than over ground ones these days. I do hope this underground river is cleaner than some of London's which are about as good as sewers these days.
The album closes with Be My Good Dream-(Excerpt). It's just over a minute and a half long, perfect for the end titles to scroll by while the strings accompany the final moments. It feels like a nice come down to close a very cool album.
Find out more at Exedra Facebook page
Exedra on Tumblr
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