Greylag – Greylag

Like Led Zeppelin, but from Oregon

On first listen, from beginning to end, you get the impression that the members of Greylag are very serious about being very serious musicians. This initial impression is solidified as you look around for information about the band. There are a handful of brooding pictures, an oblique write-up on their label’s website, a few unplugged sessions on YouTube and a few extended interviews.

The constant refrain is that they’ve spent years refining their sound, recording demos that will never see the light of day and trying to find the proper way to balance all of their musical influences. For the jaded music consumer, it’s hard to tell whether this is all the product of clever marketing campaign for their new self-titled album or the indication of genuine obsessive music nerdery with a hint of perfectionism.

The playing and singing are technically brilliant, but there is, for lack of a better way to describe it, a cool detachment from the emotional aspect of the music for much of the record. The one exception to the emotional coldness is the closing track “Walk the Night.” Andrew Stonestreet’s haunted vocals paired with Daniel Dixon’s reserved yet inspired guitar work is enough to bring the listener to tears.

On the topic of musical influences, Greylag draws heavily on the acoustic work of Robert Plant and Jimmy Page circa Led Zeppelin III. Many of the tracks on this record use the same template as “Gallows Pole:” Start with gentle folky guitar work backing earnest vocals singing blues tinged lyrics, bring in drums and a second guitar line, increase in intensity until it’s appropriate to bring in an overdriven guitar solo, then fade out. The best applications of this template on this record are “Mama,” “Black Sky” and “One Foot.”

Despite the distant emotionlessness and formulaic song structures, this is an incredibly strong record. It is obvious that the band has taken great pains to get their sound to exactly where they want it to be.