A five man operation, The Gift modestly refers to themselves as "...a progressive rock band..." Precisely the type of moniker that always intrigues me; is it the generic brown wrapper covering a masterpiece...or the boards over a broken window keeping disaster and ruin from sight? Only a head long dive into the music will answer that question, so cue up the diving board...
My first assault on the prog buffet yields an upbeat tune called "Too Many Hands." The opening riff rings particularly optimistic; you find your foot tapping almost subconsciously. The Gift has tossed extremely bright colors at the canvas with this piece...guitars clear a wide swath for strong vocals to take up residence in your auditory canals and not let go. The sound is quite tight; these guys know how to feed off each other's energy--and the needle is pegged in the red. The bar has been set high for the week...let's hope they can keep the energy flowing...
Serving number two is a more delicate piece called "Walk Into the Water." Listening to the song open, it is as if I am sitting in a church pew...a very poignant and delicate organ bleeds into soft vocals, while guitar work floats through like a whisper. The song has dark undertones, but the color shines through and illuminates what could have ended up a macabre piece of music. The Gift have top notes of Spock's Beard and the Alan Parsons Project on this cut; exceptional song writing ability encased in a shell of flowing and intricate sound. Follow the song to the end and you feel a sense of calm; what is ending here is just the beginning of another splendid adventure elsewhere...
Liner Notes...based in London, The Gift is a five-piece prog band consisting of Mike Morton on guitar, flute, and vocals, David Lloyd on electric and acoustic guitars, Samuele Matteucci on keyboards and samples, Stefan Dickers on bass, and Scott James behind the drum kit. The band also credits Graham Harris as stage/tour manager, band tech, and for live sound. The Gift started as a duo in 2003 working on a concept piece about the madness of war. By the time that was released in 2005, The Gift had become a full fledged quintet. Line-up changes--the inevitable equalizer among all bands past, present, and future--struck The Gift early on. Of course, the result is proof positive that change does not necessarily translate to something negative.
The Gift are an enigma of sorts; while the music resonates of the symphonic, hard-hitting and classic standard bearers, the lyrics are entrenched in the reality of today. The Gift seem unable to simply write a song and etch it into vinyl...they prefer to tell an entire story and wrap it in splendor. The Gift wander the width and breadth of the prog garden but spend most of their time in the concept section among the Steven Wilson, Roger Waters, and Peter Gabriel elite...
The dessert this evening is an adult portion called "Nocturne." With images of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" radiating through the headphones, this songs cuts through the cacophony of noise that fills the day with surgical-like precision. The soft acoustic guitar belies strong vocals...smooth as a burlap bag yet dead on with emotion. Aromatics of The Cure float across this piece, and the understated drumming taps the back of your skull with just enough ardor to hold your attention.
The clip I chose for you this week is called "Escalation." This piece in particular struck me for the way it creates a foundation on which to build...starting out slow and deliberate, then just ripping the insulation out the speakers midway through--and oh those biting vocal snippets! The Gift surrounds your mind and never lets up, building to a crescendo that splits your head down the center--and then suddenly the stage fades to black. Learn more about The Gift at http://thegiftmusic.com/index.php. You can check out their sound by going to https://soundcloud.com/the-gift-music-uk. For the Twitter crowd The Gift is at @TheGiftMusicUK and of course you can keep up with everything at the band's Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TheGiftMusicUk/.
Yet another stroll through the London progressive rock scene yields superb results. The Gift treat the prog garden like their personal Wikipedia...taking from each section what sates a need and using all they gather to fashion a sound that flows like Spin-Art. As you the listener are drawn into the music, you allow yourself to be changed--ever so slightly. One of the reasons I enjoy prog so much is the way it transcends everything you think you know and takes you on an adventure. Whether it be symphonic, neo, classic, metal, jazz infused, or some other "insert-your-prog-adjective-here" subgenre, progressive music always finds a way to broaden the music horizon. The pleasure for me is finding the gems lying in wait as I continue the search for all things prog...until next week...
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