I\u2019m not one to pigeonhole bands by where they come from, after all not every band from Seattle is grungy, nor is every band from Nashville stuck on country.<\/p>\n
But after a first listen of Ashes Grammar by A Sunny Day in Glasgow, I was rather sure I had the band pegged as European, maybe not Scottish (too obvious, but certainly from the UK). Those Banco de Gaia electronic interludes, the dreamy Cocteau Twins (easy reach, I know) lyrics, that overt Sigur Ros resonance \u2014 no doubt they were from across the pond.<\/p>\n
So it makes perfect sense they\u2019re from \u2014 Philadelphia. Philadelphia? Rocky Balboa, obnoxious sports fans, cheesesteaks?<\/p>\n
Amazingly \u2014 yes.<\/p>\n
From the City of Brotherly Love, directed by Ben Daniels and his sisters Robin and Lauren, comes an impossible dream of an album, laid out like a delicate meal. The 22-song disc moves with purpose, whetting your appetite with a gentle opening (\u201cSlaughter Killing Courage and Failure\u201d), a determined middle (\u201cClose Chorus,\u201d \u201cShy,\u201d \u201cNitetime Rainbows\u201d), and a satisfying ending (\u201cStaring at a Disadvantage,\u201d \u201cHeadphone Space\u201d). In between are seamless pauses of sound, some full songs others instrumental experiments, which bend and fold like conversations between courses.<\/p>\n
Despite its hour-long run time, Ashes never lingers nor overstays its welcome \u2014 when it ends it comes as a surprise, which is fitting. For a Philadelphia band to create such music is a revelation, evidence the unexpected comes from the oddest of places.<\/p>\n
So give it up for ambient pop and cheesesteaks.<\/p>\n
Only in America.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019m not one to pigeonhole bands by where they come from, after all not every band from Seattle is grungy, nor is every band from Nashville stuck on country. But after a first listen of Ashes Grammar by A Sunny Day in Glasgow, I was rather sure I had the band pegged as European, maybe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1224,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[307,306],"class_list":["post-1223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-ashes-grammar","tag-review-a-sunny-day-in-glasgow"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1223"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1226,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1223\/revisions\/1226"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}