Gravity Sessions proves, amongst other things, that songs are never truly finished and that they never really need a final form. Just as bands evolve and change and move through various stages of their sonic life, so too can, and indeed should, songs. To this end, Rosetta West went into the titular studio and rerecorded some of their favorite tracks, not only rerecording them, but doing so “as-live.” What you have here are seven one-take (more or less) wonders that capture the band’s true essence.
Music made with the edges unsmoothed, raw and abrasive, vibrant and vital, the band sound with nothing to hide behind? Absolutely! And what you get is the sound of a band kicking out some bluesy, ballsy, low-slung, incendiary rock and roll, just as the gods of live music intended!
“Dora Lee,” the recent single, kicks things off perfectly, with groove and grit, muscle and melody, power and lyrical poignancy all firing off in unison. “Broken Glass” spirals down into some dark and delicious Dyonisian depths. “Deeper than Magic” reveals their psychedelic side, a blend of gnarly rock and intricate arabesque elements and “Venous Blue” rounds things off perfectly with a slice of searing, blood-pumping (ha!) Hendrixian blues-rock.
It is telling that this is a band that has been around for a long time, comprising seasoned pros who understand what makes music work. And they have been doing this long enough to have learned that it is not the polish and poise, studio gimmicks, and sonic tricks that discerning music fans want; it is great songs, honest songs, authentic songs, and a real record of how the band sound, a close sonic facsimile of what you are going to get when you catch them live—the sonic substance rather than merely the fabricated and shallow style. And Gravity Sessions not only ticks all of those boxes, it does so in a bold font, underlines them, and circles them in bright red pencil.
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