{"id":438,"date":"2011-02-02T06:12:01","date_gmt":"2011-02-02T11:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=438"},"modified":"2011-02-02T06:12:01","modified_gmt":"2011-02-02T11:12:01","slug":"album-review-north-atlantic-oscillation-grappling-hooks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2011\/02\/02\/album-review-north-atlantic-oscillation-grappling-hooks\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: North Atlantic Oscillation – Grappling Hooks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Much of what passes for \u201cmodern rock\u201d these days is pretty weak tea. The majority of bands working in that 21st<\/sup> century idiom draw inspiration (and I use that word very loosely) from ultimately pedestrian AOR acts like Bon Jovi<\/strong>. These aggregations of tattooed faux bad-boys channel their ersatz anger into by-the-numbers rock that fails to say or do anything new.<\/p>\n

At the other end of the spectrum (well, perhaps on another point upon the curve) are the post-emo hipsters, running with that Civil War re-enactor vibe (albeit without the period uniforms). At least their music can be interesting.<\/p>\n

All this is not to put forth the tired (and fully discredited) argument that there\u2019s nothing good happening musically in 2011. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Artists established and new are always looking for ways to push the boundaries, create something new (or newish), and\/or to synthesize previously unconnected strains of music into something fresh and new. And at its best, this sort of creative musical activity doesn\u2019t always draw on the tried-and-true for its inspiration (the real kind).<\/p>\n

North Atlantic Oscillation<\/strong> is a case in point. A Scottish outfit, they sound no more a product of their homeland than do, say, Teenage Fanclub<\/strong>. Their press kit ticks off some influences outside the mainstream, suggesting that \u2013 like all significant artists before them \u2013 they are first and foremost fans of the rock idiom. In their music as presented on their debut album Grappling Hooks<\/em>, NAO conjures up a sound that has at least three touchstones.<\/p>\n

First, the exploding, propulsive and highly dynamic drum patterns suggest a Flaming Lips<\/strong> influence. The Lips\u2019 Steven Drozd<\/strong> did quite a lot to redefine that group\u2019s sonic attach by incorporating his bright and busy yet subtle drumming, and North Atlantic Oscillation\u2019s Ben Martin<\/strong> heads for similar sonic territory with his approach to beats and percussion. True, there are places on the record where the beat completely disappears, but that lack of a beat is merely a tool, a means to make the return of the drumbeat that much more of an event.<\/p>\n

Another point of reference is Radiohead<\/strong>. North Atlantic Oscillation crafts soundscapes atop those beats, and applies washes of gurgling synthesizer to the mix. There are plenty of vocals on Grappling Hooks<\/em>, but often as not they exist as an instrument, as part of the overall sound, rather than a means to deliver a story or whatnot.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s a decidedly modern (in a good way) vibe to the songs, suggesting an approach not all that removed from, say, thenewno2<\/strong>. That the songs were built in large part on laptops rather than in a rehearsal studio may go toward explaining this. The breakbeats and insistent repeating of hooks (heavily effects-laden guitars, the aforementioned synths and all manner of other keyboard sounds) make Grappling Hooks<\/em> almost a rave experience.<\/p>\n

Highlights abound, but tracks like \u201cAudioplastic\u201d will lodge themselves in the listener\u2019s memory for a long time. Grappling Hooks<\/em> is rightly considered a headphone album thanks to the rich sonic palette employed, but it\u2019s also the sort of disc best suited to cranking way up on a good set of speakers. NAO is a duo (expanded to a trio for live dates) but their sound is so full that they don\u2019t sound like it. And while their sound is carefully crafted, the music on Grappling Hooks<\/em> isn\u2019t of the “precious studio rat” variety. On \u201cAlexanderplatz\u201d Sam Healy<\/strong> goes for an Elliot Smith<\/strong> sort of vocal, but weds it to an epic-sounding arrangement that rocks. It\u2019s tough to pick the best track on Grappling Hooks<\/em>, but \u201c77 Hours\u201d is a strong contender for that honor. It\u2019s an effective melding of all the previously mentioned qualities, all in service of a fetching melody.<\/p>\n

For modern music with modern antecedents, you can\u2019t do much better these days than North Atlantic Oscillation\u2019s Grappling Hooks<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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\"I<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Much of what passes for \u201cmodern rock\u201d these days is pretty weak tea. The majority of bands working in that 21st century idiom draw inspiration (and I use that word […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-review","cat-65-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}