Wot Gorilla?
| Website: | Official Site |
| Writer: | Dan Smith |
Finding a good balance between motivation, happiness, justice, health and hedonism is a what makes a man deserve his beard. I'm not going to write a bad review just because I'm in a bad mood, just as I wouldn't make an assumption that a woman with facial hair worked in the circus. I could never look music in the face again if I'd done that. It's just not fair. Book by it's cover and all that.
So when I was presented with Wot Gorrila?'s album ‘Kebnekaise’ and upon hearing they were a "math-rock four piece from Halifax named after a Genesis song" I am ashamed to say I wasn't strictly looking forward to the experience. I know, I know, I shouldn't pigeon-hole when it comes to this kind of stuff, but trim my whiskers, this one turned out ok!
From the off, I loved the loose but clever timings on tracks such as 'I beat up the bathroom, I'm sorry' and 'Suspects', the latter having some amazing dirty, distorted guitar parts towards the end and a nice nod/wink to Smashing Pumpkins and 65 days... Perhaps coincidentally, one of the tracks on the album is named "655" and sounds like a lovely mix between the two.
It's not all good however. Specifically they need to work on the lyrics; stuff like "Can it get any worse? / Throw me a bone and i'll catch it" all seems a bit uninspired and immature for my liking. It lets the music down slightly, but on the whole this debut seems like a really good start for the Yorkshire lads. It's well-produced, attention to the instrumentals is incredible in places and if I was in their shoes I'd definitely be proud of it. See? I don't mind admitting when I'm wrong. Does music even have a face?
Posted: Wed 5 September 2012