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Gnac, "Twelve Sidelong Glances"
Mark Tranmer's project is pronounced like the final syllable of "cognac" and given that he has a disposition towards electronic instrumental music, I should've expected this album to sound like new age elevator music. Images of Yanni record covers and million dollar suits sipping wine at an exclusive British hunting club are all I can think of, now.
LTM
Gnac sounds pleasant; it's soft and practically recorded to be listened to while reading a book and looking chic somewhere in a crowd of people. There's a lot of piano, soft synth pads, and sleep inducing percussion that persists on and on into an infinity of simple beats and rubbery effects.
Tranmer loves to write annoying smooth jazz tunes that are composed of almost synthetic sounding acoustic guitars and popping bass lines; the two sound way out of sync with each other, as though they belong to two separate worlds of total crap. If I heard this in a store somewhere I think I'd probably mistake it for some in-store muzak station or a local artist that just found out what a synthesizer is and also happens to love "Native American" artwork. With all the emphasis on how smooth the record is, there are few (if any) dynamic shifts to speak of. This is one calm lake from beginning to end.
This would fit in just fine at a coffee house somewhere in the trendiest part of New York City. That way a bunch of self important musicians and art students could be bored to death by it instead of me.
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