REVIEW: Banco de Gaia, Big Men Cry (Ultimate/Mammoth)
- David Landgren
Those of you who have been following the music of Banco de Gaia can be assured: Big Men Cry is an important record. Indeed, it's his best to date. The basic precepts of, retro-postmodern pop remains, although this latest album is a very different beast to Last Train to Lhasa. It places Banco farther away from the dance scene of earlier albums. This is a more personal journey, thus, uncompromised.
Take "Drippy", the opening track, for instance. One cannot accuse him of tailoring his music to easy radio airplay. Clocking in at almost nine minutes, the song just starts to get into high gear by the time a standard three minute pop song has finished. The departure from previous albums is plain: a more tribal, industrial sound.
From there it is into the heartland of Olde Europe, with a sample of tolling church bells on "Celestine". Then, as the song builds up, think of Pink Floyd, circa Animals with its Hammond organ sound, and you'll be on the right track. Amazingly enough, Banco has managed a minor miracle in digging up Dick Parry, the saxophonist who played the definitive 70's sax solo, on "Us and Them," on Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon; he can still cut it today. Bear in mind though, that this is the 90's, and so the song is finishes up in a kitsch disco groove.
The album reaches a high point with "Drunk As A Monk". A swelling chorus of industrial clanking, chanting (the Tibetan monk connection), jackhammers and sliding synth notes crashing together. In their wake arises a gloomy, post-apocalypse rhythm, the closest comparison I can make is with Sydney avant garde 80's band Scattered Order (which, I admit, isn't going to help everyone). From here the song shifts abruptly into a uplifting, euphoric melody that basically pulls you out of your chair and makes you want to leap around the room. This is Banco de Gaia at its/his finest.
Next up is the title track, "Big Men Cry" which starts off with a jungle atmosphere (i.e., jungle as in "rainforest after the downfall"). A mellower, ambient track, again Floydish in feeling, leaning towards The Orb, accompanied by an atmospheric violin. Makes me wonder if any film-makers have contacted Toby Marks regarding a film score. His music has always been, and still is, panoramic in nature.
Blink and you'll miss the joke track on the album, "Gates Does Windows", lasting as it does all of thirty seconds. Nothing to do with the devil in Redmond, the Gates in question is Fred, a window cleaner, in real life. The song segues straight into "One Billion Miles Out", which is my least favourite track. Which is not to say I dislike it but, only that Alan Parsons Project's I, Robot was a good album when it came out but I wouldn't be caught dead listening to it these days...
And then there is "Starstation Earth", a twenty minute opus to close the album. Reminds me a lot of a couple of different tracks from the t:me stable of musicians. Toby Marks explains that at the incept, all he had was a sample "This is starstation Earth". His imagination took it from there.
Listening to this album, and Live at Gladstonbury, it becomes clear that Marks is moving away from the one-man-behind-the-keyboards, towards collaborative efforts with other musicians. On his web site, which is now at http://www.banco.co.uk, he mentions that he is working with a five piece band, rehearsing for a summer tour that will take him through Europe (including WOMAD at Reading) and the US in August for the Big Top.
The surprising thing after having listened to this album is that over an hour passes from start to finish. It's hard to see where the time goes. All of the tracks are very long, far too long for commercial radioplay; and yet, nothing seems superfluous, there is never the feeling that the songs drag on for too long. All in all, for people who want to get to know Banco de Gaia, now is a good a time as any to get on board. If you already own one or more of his other albums, this album is a fine addition. I'll be playing it for a while yet.
