GREENLAND comprise: Liam Weston, drums and percussion; Andre Matkovic, bass and trumpet; Leon Kelly, guitar and keyboards. They live and record in Sydney, and here they are releasing their debut solo EP on sparkily independent Gizeh Records out of Leeds. It’s pretty good.
Greenland used to do the spade work for a bigger band called Iliad. But, like Cliff Richard and the Shadows, they discovered that they were much better as just the Shadows. Guitar music has its own voice and there are plenty of us out here who love the unadorned sounds of musicians playing their hearts out while the ego goes for a long chat with the agent.
What GREENLAND do is a slow, purposeful, psyche groove with a melody that unwinds forever like some sonic fractal. Yes, it does come hard on the heels of EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY, and it is not a million years after SIGUR ROS or MOGWAI. But I can discern a different spirit at work, and a little patience in the wider spaces of GREENLAND that will not leave you unrewarded. Art Noise people will find it a little domesticated. But for guitar rock 'n' roll loving types, this will be adventurous and exciting stuff. They don’t spurn that Pink Floyd heritage. They just take it gently on.
The mood stays in the singular. Spacey, stoned, remorseful, but hopeful. It's like a middle section from a GOD SPEED! YOU BLACK EMPEROR gig with a nice bit of trumpet four fifths of the way into the third track. The tunes have elegant titles (of course) "The Amps Have Eyes" "Alicia", "Secret Rat And The Bag Of Happiness" and "Cowboys In Atlantis". But it would take a Humphrey Burton to identify the subtle shifts from one theme to another or the sense of overall structure or dynamic that seems to link the pieces like fairy dust. I get a strong feel that the band are just flowing with the moment and not being too artful about recreating that deliberate symphonic development that characterises the best of SIGUR ROS. It’s an extended jam, with homework.
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England will have a lot of bands going this way right now. But GREENLAND are up and running. The EPs out and it looks and sounds good. Like EXPLOSIONS before them, this is the advance notice of that great album that could follow. It’s a liberated, creative band on the edge of bursting out.
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