It’s usually not until a bands third or fourth album where they can let their hair down and do what they please; driving off into different directions from the norm of music around them. But in An Emerald City’s case it’s the starting point of their musical viewpoint.
To describe this band and this album is almost to describe music itself. You are presented with an almost Middle Eastern overtone with lengthy rhythm pieces that would have almost blown the mind of Jim Morrison.
There is a family they do belong to however, their distant cousins would be HDU/Jakob/ God Speed You black Emperor and perhaps even Bailterspace around a campfire.
This album is a pivotal moment in NZ music’s history, when a band has angled sharply away from the tired old path of ‘rock band’ and produced a lush, warm cavernous (well it was recorded in a cave after all) record on their own terms.
Available now in thick double vinyl and this is the best way to enjoy the album.
