Grayceon

S/T

Vendlus Records 2007

Delicate and mesmerizing and yet somehow adventurous is how I envision Grayceon's self titled debut.  Grayceon has taken the novel idea of incorporating a cello (courtesy of Amber Asylum's Jackie Perez Gratz) into the mix rather than a bass guitar and then "the low end" function is traded back and forth between the guitar and the Cello.  But interesting and astonishingly enough that also means that the leads are traded off between the two as well.  Grayceon makes some spectacular compositions and they start the album off in stellar fashion with Sounds Like Thunder which is grand and brooding with a sense of frailty and threads of melancholy intertwined.  This makes for some original sounding musical passages and these themes carry on throughout the album's entirety.  Perhaps the shortest song on the album, Song for You is also my favorite with its faster overall tempo and crushingly dramatic cello and crunchy guitar burst beginning that nearly moves me to tears with its shimmering elegance.  The vocals are also interweaved and traded off between male and female but for the most part fairly sparsely used though this makes them much more effective.  They also manage to add another layer of fragility to this delicate music.  All three of the musicians here are well trained and highly skilled at their particular trade and it definitely shows both in the performance and the actual writing of each track.  They effortlessly splice subtle contemplative moments with furious blasts of drumming mayhem and shift gears right back into soothing and sweeping melodic movements.  Each musician's personality flows easily and is instantly recognizable.  I love the way Ride finishes out like a swirling gypsy with a repetitive riff that fold in upon itself while the cello adds a exotic flourish over the top of all the rest of the music.  The production is flawless and enhances the sense that the album is a delicate and beautifully woven spider web, both intricate and beautiful in its hidden strength.  Each instrument is thin and clean yet this is exactly how it should be.  Grayceon has barely left my CD player since I got the disk.  The four songs here make up a span of 45 minutes but it passes like a shadow too soon and my heart feels the longing for it again immediately.  This might be the most beautiful album I hear all year.  It is certainly going on my favorite list at years end and that is a bold statement since this is only February, but I am that certain of it.  Somehow I just feel I cannot say enough how great this album is how much it moves me whenever I hear it.