Grant Atlantic - Constellations

Grand Atlantic - Constellations
2011, Grand Atlantic

Brisbane, Australia rockers GrandAtlantic have big ideas. Taking their name from The Grand Atlantic Hotel, GrandAtlantic evokes thoughts of the psychedelia and shoe gaze blended in a DavidBowie meets The Dandy Warhols pastiche. All of this is rooted in a distinctmelodicism born of influences such as The Beatles, Ray Davies and Brian Wilson.After playing SXSW and Canadian Music week in 2010, Grand Atlantic touredacross North America and released the album How We Survive. The reactionfrom commercial radio was positive, with more than 50 stations picking up GrandAtlantic. The band struck gold when featured on Gossip Girl.

Thankful for the exposure, but notwanting to lose track of their creative purpose, Grand Atlantic returned homeand undertook the writing/recording of a new album, the recently released Constellations.Recorded at the Seacliff Lunatic Asylum, an abandoned psychiatric hospital nearDunedin, New Zealand, Constellations has a sparse, psychedelic castthat's attention grabbing.

Constellations kicks off with "Carved From Stone", featuring awall-of-sound fullness that washes over the listener. Behind this is a somewhatbland core, but the song is an effective first impression with which to open."Control Station Blues" is an intriguing juxtaposition of styles.Imagine mid-career, techno pop U2 trying to achieve the same feel as a garageband. After numerous listens it's still not entirely clear if this mix"works", but the attempt is so compelling, and the song is driven bysuch a bitter energy it stays with you. "Searchlights" is aslow-grinding monster, shoe-gaze power-pop that pulls you along in itsrelentless wake.

This general mood of slow andinexorable music progress plays out over several tracks, including"Constellations", "Mountains Too Steep" and "Poison ToThe Vine". Grand Atlantic finally breaks out on the high-energy"Fresh Ideas In Home Security", bringing a chutzpah and charisma tomatch the big sound they convey. Things slowly settle through "Voyager"and "No Man's Land", ultimately subsiding in the dispassionate"Queenie."

Grand Atlantic struggles to matchbig sounds, big ideas and sufficient energy on Constellations. Loadedwith talent and good intentions, Grand Atlantic seems to shoot for the stars onevery track. An admirable goal, but sometimes a softer approach can serve tohighlight the true highs.

Constellations shows the outline of the sort of band Grand Atlantic willeventually become; with flashes of greatness visible in the clouds. As theydevelop their own path further, they'll fill in the gaps that become apparenton Constellations. In the mean time, this is a great effort, even if theband's energy and enthusiasm are ill-managed at times. A good producer whounderstands and will work with the band's vision, but also can manage theircollective vision and energies into a narrower focus would transform an albumwith great potential into a great album. That is the ultimate moral of Constellations.

Rating: 3 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Grand Atlantic at www.grandatlantic.org or www.myspace.com/grandatlantic. 

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Source: http://wildysworld.blogspot.com/2011/11/grant-atlantic-constellations.html

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