I have a confession to make. I love local music. I am seriously biased with regards to it and will shamelessly plug it to whoever is unfortunate enough to be around me when the topic crops up. Fortunately for all of you however, I am currently living in Leeds which is a hotbed of genuinely interesting and varied music.
There will be a major difficulty in writing this review, and it is this: Glissando are almost indefinable. The best I can manage is piano-led, atmospheric, and coldly emotive songs gently traced through with wavering yet precise female vocals and effects-laden guitar soundscapes. Now picture that in your head, and I'm almost certain you would still be surprised by what they sound like.
The first half of the album is dominated by the tender one/two punch of "With a Kiss and a Tear" and "Floods," both of which trickle gently into your lungs to drown you in blissful sorrow. Yeah, this record makes me fucking poetic. Deal with it. A little bit of Leeds incest in the form of backing vocals by Dave Martin of iLiKETRAiNS on the track "Grekken" provides a resonant backdrop to Elly May Irving's delicate vocal spiderwebs, and shows firmly how the small touches on this album are what move it from good to great.
It is what bands and artists should be attempting to put out in the 21st century something obviously laid down on the foundations of others who have gone before (at this point I doubt anything truly new could be written) but which approaches it from a new viewpoint and creates for itself an origin, a genesis from which wilder things can evolve.
The album isn't perfect by any stretch. There is filler here and there, and sometimes the more guitar effect-noise style tracks have a tendency to elongate themselves to a degree where you are idly waiting for the piano and vocals to swell up into the sound again. But as a debut release and a refreshing ice-chilled slap in the face it works beautifully.
See also
Cocteau Twins, 27, Dead Can Dance, Amber Asylum
