Single review: @'s "Are You There God? It's Me, @"
- by Martín Cacho
- in Reviews
@ In their short tenure, spanning just a single and an album, with the debut album dropping last year, they've managed to amass a listener base of 126,577 per month on Spotify — an impressive feat in a music landscape where their genre isn't pop (And for a group whose name makes them incredibly hard to search on the web). While certain tracks may evoke the experimental pop vibes of the UK scene, the rest meanders through an eclectic fusion of rock, folk, classical strains, and prog rock.
I haven't conducted a surgical music theory dissection of this group's music, but I have a strong inclination that they've drawn heavily from the great 'Gentle Giant.' While emulating Gentle Giant's distinctive and unique style is hard without sounding like a mere bad imitation, this band manages to adopt it in an authentically original manner.
The echoes of Gentle Giant resonate most profoundly in the particular way on how @ construct their cadences, also in the melodic contours of the vocals, and other formal elements. The track "Webcrawler" particularly brims with resemblances to Gentle Giant's "School Days." Please feel free to engage in a comparative analysis: observe the orchestration, vocal melody, overall ambiance, but pay special attention to the cadences and form.
Some might raise an eyebrow at reviews grounded in comparisons, but the parallels are so palpable that I could not let it slide. Beyond these comparisons, however, this group stands on its own merit, a discovery that elicits sheer joy in me.
"Are You There God? It's Me" commences with a profoundly touching chorale that toys with the poignant phrase "I can't feel you anymore..." However, the exquisite open cadence is abruptly disrupted by a glitch-like sound, transforming the music into a sort of post-rock composition.
On the other hand, "Soul Hole" emerges as the quintessential pop song on their album — catchy with vocal harmonies reminiscent of the pop stylings Björk has accustomed us to. Nevertheless, this group adeptly weaves layers of experimental ecstasy and frenetic energy into the fabric of the track.
This group will captivate those in search of a breath of fresh air within the folk music movement, as well as ears attuned to experimentation. They effortlessly navigate the realms of eclecticism and experimentation, delivering a sound that is both catchy and powerful. I invite you to give them a try!
