Miracle Music

Miracle Music was primarily recorded by the same lineup as Grails previous album, Anches En Maat, with founders Alex Hall and Emil Amos joined by Jesse Bates, Ilyas Ahmed, and A.E. Paterra. It largely continues in that albums direction, though it eases up on the lush, sometimes syrupy strings inspired by 70s disco and daytime dramas. Like the previous few Grails albums, there are production techniques similar to the groups instrumental hip-hop side project, Lilacs & Champagne, as well as Amos solo records, with the whole affair sounding closer to soundtracks and library recordings than a conventional rock album. This one does feel darker and heavier than its predecessor, however. "Silver Bells" opens with a collage of Mellotron-like fluttering and tape curl before building up a storming, cinematic rhythm outfitted with percolating synths and layers of guitars drowning each other out. The drifting, nautical suite "Primeval Lite I-III" incorporates Kelly Pratts majestic horn arrangements along with crisp acoustic guitars. "Homemade Crucifix" is an intriguing mixture of snapping, booming drum machines and pizzicato strings. Other tracks like "Strange Paradise" are foggy, funereal processions, while "Perfect Etercuss" is fiery and mesmerizing, filled with splashing, clapping percussion and droning bass. Miracle Music is a vivid, surreal continuation of the somber, elegiac sound world of Anches En Maat, largely inhabiting the same territory but with a bit more bite. ~ Paul Simpson