Grails show the extent of their skill on the nine songs included here with a departure from their established sound. Black Tar Prophecies is easily the best thing they’ve done so far. They’ve found their own distinct sound and are all the better for it.
Black Tar Prophecies shows a new side to Grails. Previous to this I’ve found them quite boring: a post-rock band in the most clichéd sense. Having lost their violin player (quite literally, he’s gone missing) they have had to reassess their way of playing. The rapid shift in direction has benefited their development, however. They explore a wide variety of styles to create a psychedelic mood with a vaguely eastern hue to most of the music. There’s even a deliciously dirty jazz quality that rears its head from time to time, most noticeably on “Bad Bhang Recipe” which has a touch of Barry Adamson about it.
The album has an extremely clean sound to it (even the fuzzed out guitar). The production and mix have been very sympathetic to the music. “Back to the Monastery” sounds like Grails are playing live in the room while “Black Tar Frequencies” shows more evidence of postproduction which don’t sound like they were just tacked on, the echo added to all the percussion instruments suits the mood of the piece perfectly. The production isn’t too pristine; the warmth of the instruments is still preserved.
Two pieces stand out on Black Tar Prophecies: “Stray Dog” and the title track. Guitars, bouzouki and banjo create a swirling, hypnotic and hallucinogenic rapture. It's fantastic enough to make me wish it was at least five times as long. “Black Tar Prophecy” amalgamates all the different musical threads from the previous tracks. I don’t have as many adjectives for it as I do for “Stray Dog” but it is a powerful piece nonetheless. Grails pick up the pace on this piece compared to most of the other tracks which are more laid back. It’s a nice, uplifting way to end the album.
Black Tar Propechies is a great release and I now regret not getting the original 12” releases when they came out as I would have loved to have had more time with this music. At this point, it is hard to find those vinyls now and I would hate to have to get the same music again for the two songs not on the first two volumes. As it stands, Grails have definitely earned my admiration with this release and if it’s not in my top albums of the year I’ll be very surprised.
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