Gary Dranow - Digitize (self-released)

When writing about “Destiny Road”, I waxed lyrically about how much Gary Dranow seemed to be a welcome return to old-school rock values, and I stand by that one hundred per cent. But, as if to say, “Hang on a minute, me and the boys have more than one string to our sonic bow,” he now delivers “Digitize,” a song that mixes those rock grooves with all manner of additional flavours.

The first thing you notice is how he blends those more expected rock moves with more futuristic sounds, the wash of synths and digital sounds that run through and between and beyond and behind the more expected analogue creations – analogue creations that are ramped up here into almost metal heights. But by adding dynamic lulls between the sonic crescendoes that he creates, and does so seemingly effortlessly, the result is the perfect balance between high and low, light and shade, on and off, analogue and digital. Perfect.

There is also another delicate balancing act being performed here. As the song hits the final third, it evolves into a raga-infused meditation (chants would be a fine thing! Geddit?) before kicking back up into higher gear and heading for the finish line. Again, another fine line walked perfectly: Eastern mystique meets Western muscle, oriental spice dancing with occidental energy.

Many people might have Gary Dranow pegged merely as a blues-rocker, and he is a very good one at that. But what songs like “Digitize” prove is that he is not someone living in the past, that he is someone not confined by genre or even geography; he is someone who is perhaps more in tune with the times and more in step with the potential of the post-genre world than any of his contemporaries. But we always suspected as much, didn’t we?

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