Genres can be helpful to the music writer, but they tend to be of little value in the face of music that is more discerning, original, interesting, and more…well, just more. And so it is that faced with Haag the Huge, the latest EP from the titular Haag, all we can do is broadly label it rock music and leave it at that. Yes, that is such a broad label, but such is the mellifluousness and movement, the experimentation and spirit of sonic adventure found here that it is pointless to try to pin the music down any tighter.
These five tracks might be instrumental, but that isn’t to say that the music doesn’t have a voice. Take the call and response between the crunching rhythms and the searing and serene nature of the two guitars in “Alpha Grade,” two distinct voices, later joined by the dulcet expressions and ebb and flow of the Hammond organ. Who needs words when you have so much being said through sonics alone?
“Glows in Blue” pushes the idea of blues into the same territory that Pink Floyd carved out for their own, (watch out Mr. Gilmore looks like you have some stiff competition heading your way), and the title track takes us out in refined style, bass-driven grooves, guitars that run between squalling and subtle, euphoric and brooding, cool breakdowns, and masterful uplifts.
It’s blues meets prog-rock, it’s R&B meets technical metal, it’s soulful and sassy, and it speaks volumes without a single word being uttered. That is the sound of masterful musicians in action.
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