The Crucible have a sort of mellow schizophrenia in their music. Maybe Reality, One Day opens up with effect-drenched guitar arpeggios and wistful - almost keening - vocals, but just when you think you’ve got the measure of the piece, the guitars springboard off the back of long tumbling rolls on the drums, and start painting a big wide canvas of sound.
It’s a kind of proggy sprawl, with urban misery and confusion distilled into some chemical-hazed vision from a rain-lashed roof-top. There’s some real potential there, but it’s a shame there are only the two dynamic modes in the song – there’s plenty of scope for exploration left unused, and if you’re going to attempt this epic style you might as well throw in the kitchen sink. Six minutes worth of song should take the listener a little further afield.
Though perhaps epic prog isn’t what The Crucible are aiming for; the wistfulness rears its head once again in the second tune, Bubble Tea, which has a Pink Floyd-esque surrealism about it. Fractured poetry and curious character sketches abound, above a lazy Sunday jazz bassline and a gentle jangle of guitar … and then the final third of the song goes all metallic and crunchy, though seemingly with its tongue slightly in its cheek. The Crucible have something to say, for certain; it’s going to take more material to make it clear exactly what it is, though.
Thicker slicker production wouldn’t go amiss, either, but you can’t expect studio miracles from young independent rock bands. But you can hope for them to have ideas – and there The Crucible are doing fine. With a little more polish, a little more fire, and the courage of their song-writing convictions, they could be a gem in the rough.
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Posted in Music reviews |
Tags: Maybe Reality One Day, post-rock, prog, The Crucible
