glassbooks - deluge

Glassbooks

Deluge
self-released; 2014

3.8 out of 5

By Samantha Kanne

Rock n’ roll is not dead and whoever said so should take a closer look around. Glassbooks, a Scottish band consisting of four school friends, combines the upbeat melodies of The Strokes with the punk rock attitudes from Sonic Youth. Their latest EP Deluge was recently described by a blogger as “over 20 minutes of excitement.” That particular blogger was correct in every respect but Deluge is also quite soothing knowing that there are some millennial rockers out there.

“Acrobatics,” the opening track on the EP, starts out slow and dreamy and then kicks into a very high-energy combination of drums provided by Darren Wilkie, bass from Stuart Fraser, guitar from Adam Carrington and vocals (reminiscent of Morrisey) by David Escudero King. The end of “Acrobatics” slips into a hypnotizing loop and completely ends with that dreamy vibe from earlier.

The guitar on “Clockwork Ink” is particularly special because of Carrington’s and King’s ability to make the song sound larger than it really is. There’s something about the band and the tracks on “Deluge” that make you feel like the songs sound extremely similar to how they would be performed live. 

A modern take on post punk can be heard on the majority of the five songs on Deluge. Most songs end with some sort of distorted synthesizer and the guitars feel in the realm of Foals and Cage the Elephant. The post punk influences can definitely be heard on “Motherboard Fancies” with sporadic guitars and King’s vocals. 

The title track “Deluge” feels like the true winner here. With improvisation by guitarists Carrington and King, the song takes the listener on an emotional journey. The opening is melancholic but, in true Glassbooks style it seems, the song takes a twist and those guitars and smooth bass lines show up. The song drops into a schizophrenic mish-mash of noise and then slows back down and takes us back to that dreamy feeling from “Acrobatics.”

What’s really wonderful about Glassbooks is the range of possibilities. There are moments where you can throw yourself around your room listening to their music but there are also times when you can sit back, close your eyes and smile to yourself.

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