Grouse- Heads
Grouse- HeadsLet’s get one thing sorted from the get go, this is not rock’n’roll, but GODDAM it is some cool shit!
There is so much to take in and grab hold of here that fans of all styles, especially progressive rock/metal, will find something to latch onto and obsess over.
And that’s exactly what Heads from Ireland’s own Grouse, does. It latches on to you and entraps you into its sensationally supernatural sphere whilst it fills your head with sexual fantasies, visceral visitations from Venus and sends you floating over the dreamscapes contained only in H.P Lovecraft tales.
With minimal use of lyrics or voice Grouse has managed to make music that through solid rhythms and engaging melodies. It talks to you; it wants you to create your own intrepid images and interpretations of what is happening through this album. The beauty of this is that those images will move and shift each time you decide to let it all go and journey through this cinematic soundscape of a record.
“Arm The Harmless” offers up visions of pagan rituals where scantily clad wild creatures in animal masks chant while they seemingly mock you and sacrifice virgins to appease their demon overlord as you tremble in fear at the great fire they dance around.
“Casanova” brings to life those lustful lost lovers, those ones we see on the street, those ones we imagine an entire life with only to have them ripped away when they enter a store, depart the train or get stolen away by a stranger’s kiss at the last second.
The title track “Heads” is those tiny green men from out of space, those mysterious lights in the sky that follow you home, that nagging feeling that what you witnessed was real and not just a figment of your imagination.
These are my first experiences with these three tracks, you may have the same experience or Heads could hit you in an entirely different way. It’s all up to your mood and experiences of the day.
So whilst this isn’t rock’n’roll, I really dig it and so will anyone looking for something outside the box we live in. As I said before, it’s some cool shit.
~Rob Ryles, Journalist with RockRevolt™ Magazine
Check out Grouse on the sites below:
*After a recent string of releases under different monikers on various labels, Irish musician RONAN CARROLL released his second “GROUSE” album on January 7th 2013. The new album titled “HEADS”, the follow up to 2005’s “WE WANT TO BE LOVED”, will be the first album Carroll has released since returning to his hometown of Dublin after twelve years spent living in San Francisco. The music on Heads is similar to the downtempo electronica on his debut although, says Ronan, “This one has a more cinematic feel than the first. It’s almost entirely instrumental, simply because that’s the way the tracks evolved.” Just like the debut, it has a perfect blend of organic and electronic sounds with live guitar, bass, violin and trombone combining with beats and synthesized sounds. With almost no samples, everything was played/ programmed by Carroll and a few choice guest musicians.
Look out for tour dates in 2013 from the newly formed Grouse live band.
