Gravy
Glory to our brilliant name
PonyRec
Denmark's Gravy have two strong things going for them. One, they're a silly party band with some wickedly funny lyrics and many sing-along repetitive chants. Two, they're a highly-skilled trippy psychedelic groove band with plenty of extended instrumental breaks and radical mid-song transformations. Sometimes, like on the album opener "Depression is near", the combination works. The song's a swirling and seductive dark journey that's good for plenty of laughs and dance moves along the way. At other times, though, when the music demands to be taken seriously, the lyrics and vocals are too goofy to make it fully possible. Or, just when the lyrics have got you in their world, the music veers off in another direction altogether. The result is a record that is usually interesting and often very fun, but never quite penetrable. I'd hate to see them pick one tendency over the other, but they've got a ways to go in making those two elements work together consistently.
- Nancy Baym
