TrioVD - Maze Album Review
Maze is utterly bewildering but there are some interesting and surprising elements.
rating: 2.5
WebsiteFacebook Released: 21st May*
If youre reading this review you are one of two people. The first are prog/free-form/jazz/alternative aficionados prog-mongers if you will and therefore probably already know and love TrioVD. The second are all those lovely, open minded folk who will use this review as an excuse to give TrioVDs very.... very un-mainstream sounds a try. Its almost redundant to try and rate free-form, jazzy, alternative experimentation in the same way as mainstream pop and rock music and so those in the newbie camp are most likely to gain from this review. Considering the type of band that TrioVD are, fans arent likely to look for confirmation that their new songs are better than their others. Its one of those rare scenarios when the phrase you have to listen to what theyre not playing, doesnt sound obnoxiously profound. Maze is utterly bewildering but there are some interesting and surprising elements. Opener Brick puts some atmospheric instrumentation in behind its lead saxophone an instrument that was never designed to be played like this after a thrashy, punk-like opening. http://youtu.be/0SqCTdzX5xs Despite being familiar with the three instruments used by the Leeds-based trio (saxophone, guitar and drums) you still wont be prepared for 80% of the sounds on Maze. In this respect, the muted and percussive honks of the saxophone (honestly, it is a saxophone), the hyperactive drumming underneath it and the scratching dynamics employed by the guitar make Ups and Morse sound like the chirps of a fractured and skipping tape of eighties video game music. It really makes you wonder whether these seemingly improvised and rhythm-defying fluke sounds are recreated verbatim in a live setting or whether the recordings are just single takes from a sea of jam sessions focusing on the song structures. Thankfully, though, DBST is a more orthodox affair, with the saxophone playing to which someone would be more accustomed. This song is also the emergence of some more digestible melody albeit still made as uncomfortable as possible. Ducks ambient second section continues this as the scatty cymbals and the scratchy saxophone have too much life for the echoing, desolate soundscape the guitar provides. Its probably what mixing very strong weed with ecstasy would be like. This discomfort is undoubtedly the aim. A band doesnt wring out such rhythmic, instrumental and, frankly, mental experimentation with the intent of creating an easy listening number one. Pet Shop Boys is a five minute wanderer that gets some fantastic rock into the mix amidst some more contemplative reprieves and Interlocking sounds like the sectioned cousin that Disturbeds Down with the Sickness doesnt speak about. http://youtu.be/kBEs9lgqDAk However, maybe its just a lack of enlightenment but you just cant avoid the fact that half of this album sounds like the aural representation of that scene in the pawn shop from Pulp Fiction: except Zed is replaced by Tim Burtons re-envisioning of Krusty the Clown and Michael Clark Duncan is one of those squeeze horns with the rubber ball on the end. Harm is still schizophrenic but much more digestible, which is probably due to the inclusion of some vocals. One trouble with such a unique vision is another minds inability to connect with it. On Maze vocals are, for the most part, non-existent. Some songs have maniacal babbling and screeching that sounds as though the creator is having an unpleasant reaction to the tunes but thats about it. The singer and the lyrics are usually the means of humanising a song and bridging the distance between it and the listener; the tone of the sporadic shouts on Harm alone paints flashes of the landscape that is otherwise in darkness. At times the listener has got glimpses of TrioVDs Willy Wonka chocolate factory of a world, but is not allowed much access to it. Its a shame because it sounds absolutely mesmerising. When it comes to tradition-shirking music there will always be two schools of thought: one that tries to push boundaries as far as possible with no compromise and one that seeks to bring the integrity of unique thought to the masses. Some believe that the latter is selling out and filing down the tigers teeth, but Biffy Clyro have found overwhelming success and critical fanaticism with their uncommon time signatures reinforcing huge songs. If this is your preferred brand of experimentation then TrioVD are certainly not for you. The Leeds trio are one of those bands who stand behind their right to use and abuse artistic licence and let those who like it come to them. But the problem with this stance lies in noticing when the results stop being music and start being examples of instrumental freedom. While this might be cathartic for the restrained musician playing it, can it really be recorded and marketed to others? In fact isnt rehearsing and nailing down these tracks the complete antithesis of such free-form outbursts? Apparently TrioVDs live shows are full of old prog-metallers revelling in the jarring and wandering jams. Maybe thats where their power truly lies.