Esmerine are being called a gy!be off-shoot as the core members — BruceCawdron and Beckie Foon #151; have played on various releases relatedto the Montreal collective. At the same time that the label gets them acertain amount of attention, I think it belittles the power of theirmusic at the same time, as this is not just a plaything to occupy sometime while the members wait for a new gy!be or Silver Mt. Zion record.Through very simple means, Esmerine have concocted one of the mostmoving records I've heard, mostly using simple percussion and cellowith some guest musicians to round out some of the compositions. First,there is beauty in the music itself, as the cello has the ability toextract tears from even the staunchest individual. Next, the perussionis mostly marimba or light drumming, which keeps a nice pace, but alsocuts the more overbearing moments of the strings with a slightlylighter tone. Mostly, though, the compositions themselves arebreathtaking, with moments of pure heartrending glory. There aremoments of bombast that hint at some heavy firepower, but Esmerinemostly lock it away; like offering a glance at the weapon, knowingthere's a larger psychological impact than brandishing it every fiveminutes. "Red Fire Alarm" starts off quiet, then builds to a boisteroustete-a-tete between all instruments. Eventually, the song lies down fora nap, slowly fading off into a deep sleep. The epic journey of thesecond track may turn some off, but the interplay of the strings withthe very quiet drone behind them is quite stirring. Elsewhere, there isthe lighter feel of "Tungsten" and the experimentation of "Luna Park"and "The Marvellous Engines of Resistance" to offer a smattering ofstyles with equally pleasing results. As the album finally nears itsend, the true demons finally come out, and it's worth every measure. Asound debut, and much more than some of the buzz words make it out tobe. samples:
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