The Gentle Guest: Better Than Your In-Laws Coming To Visit
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Artist:
Melissa Schrettner STAFF WRITER
When I learned that Eric Rykal's The Gentle Guest was a group of musicians who claim that the sounds of their music "can be found somewhere between the Great Depression and 2008," I was immediately wary. What does that mean? But after one listen to We Are Bound to Save Some Souls Tonight, it was like a giant epiphany—it made so much sense that it was mind-boggling.
Rykal leads listeners through ten very dark, percussion-strong narratives of sin, love, lies and whiskey that are backed by horns and the collective voice of about six or seven people. For something that Rykal claims to have written in one night, it's beyond impressive—and completely different from other stuff out there, to boot.
"Down at the Still," one of the busier and more compelling tracks on the album, sees Rykal singing to the unnamed "you" of the album, recalling the tale of how "My darling girl she left me/ A year ago today/ She kneeled down on the train tracks/ And then began to pray for us all." A couple of tracks later, just when you begin to think you know enough of The Gentle Guest to have Rykal pegged, he almost tauntingly explains, "I'm not the man I pretend to be."
So where does this leave us? Does it matter? By far one of the best and most original albums of 2008, We Are Bound to Save Some Souls Tonight is demanding and engaging the entire way though—the music itself is so darkly refreshing that any and all questions are rendered irrelevant.
The Gentle Guest - Down at the Still.mp3
The Gentle Guest - Under the Setting Sun.mp3
The Gentle Guest - She Devil.mp3
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To read with comments, click here!-
When I learned that Eric Rykal's The Gentle Guest was a group of musicians who claim that the sounds of their music "can be found somewhere between the Great Depression and 2008," I was immediately wary. What does that mean? But after one listen to We Are Bound to Save Some Souls Tonight, it was like a giant epiphany—it made so much sense that it was mind-boggling.Rykal leads listeners through ten very dark, percussion-strong narratives of sin, love, lies and whiskey that are backed by horns and the collective voice of about six or seven people. For something that Rykal claims to have written in one night, it's beyond impressive—and completely different from other stuff out there, to boot.
"Down at the Still," one of the busier and more compelling tracks on the album, sees Rykal singing to the unnamed "you" of the album, recalling the tale of how "My darling girl she left me/ A year ago today/ She kneeled down on the train tracks/ And then began to pray for us all." A couple of tracks later, just when you begin to think you know enough of The Gentle Guest to have Rykal pegged, he almost tauntingly explains, "I'm not the man I pretend to be."
So where does this leave us? Does it matter? By far one of the best and most original albums of 2008, We Are Bound to Save Some Souls Tonight is demanding and engaging the entire way though—the music itself is so darkly refreshing that any and all questions are rendered irrelevant.
The Gentle Guest - Down at the Still.mp3
The Gentle Guest - Under the Setting Sun.mp3
The Gentle Guest - She Devil.mp3
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To read with comments, click here!-
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