#tygerland

My first encounter with Cary Grace was her cover of Pink Floyd’s “Cirrus Minor” on FdM’s 2014 compilation A Momentary Lapse of Vinyl. Then earlier this year FdM issued a member’s only compilation Strange Fruit and Veg that featured Mauve La Biche and Cary’s excellent cover of Amon Düül’s “Archangel’s Thunderbird.” But that is all that I knew about her. Interestingly, it turns out Cary was born in South Carolina, lived for many years in Nashville, and eventually moved to the UK in 2005. She now runs Wessex Analogue, the company that acquired the Wiard modular synthesizer from F/i’s Grant Richter. In her free time she creates music, Tygerland being her first full-length album since 2011. Cary and friends Steffe Sharpstrings (various incarnations of Gong) and John Garden (Scissor Sisters and Alison Moyet) recorded five of the eight tracks live in the studio last August. The improvisational title track opens the disc with noise that slowly resolves into eerie ambience and reversed tapes, which is no indication at all of the listening experience awaiting you on the rest of the disc. “Cyanide,” the second “live” song follows with its gothic-psych-prog theme. The guitar work is outstanding throughout the song, especially the searing solo during the break. The slow and ethereal “Orange Sky,” not to be confused with Love’s song, follows and features Cary’s vintage Minimoog synth and vocals. The minimal arrangement and analog electronics are superb. Next is “War Child,” not a cover of Jethro Tull’s classic tune, but a proggy blues rock song with Cary sounding very strong and confident, much like Bonnie Raitt. Then she calms things down with the quiet jazz-pop “Limelite” with her vocals being a cross between Crystal Jacqueline and Renate Knaup. Now folks you are in for a treat with “Razorwire.” This bass-driven psych song is very catchy with a New Wave vibe thrown in for good measure. Think of a lysergic Ultravox with Julee Cruise on vocals. “Into the Indigo” is another strong song, this time with melodic guitar lines and violin. The disc closes with the 20 minute improv “Windsong.” The song slowly evolves from a quiet “fog horn” intro, abstract electronics, and a pulsating rhythm to an energetic glissando guitar opus with Steffe channeling Daevid Allen. Interspersed is Cary’s haunting spoken word narration. Cary really delivers the goods on Tygerland in this handmade limited edition gatefold sleeve.

Album Review: Cary Grace — Tygerland

Depending on the manner in which one learns about Cary Grace, the music on Tygerland may come as a surprise. An American expatriate now living in the United Kingdom, Grace is a keen synthesist. So much so, in fact, that she owns and operates Wiard, a company that hand-builds modular, analog synthesizers. You know: the twiddly-knob, patch bay looking beasts that require a lab coat and advanced degree to operate. I kid about the prerequisites, of course. But analog synths are not for the faint of heart.

Well, there’s of course much more to Grace than that. She has collaborated with other musicians of repute, and has a number of production credits on her résumé. She also produced and hosted a music podcast (currently on hiatus), and in 2015 she self-released her sixth solo album, Tygerland. The disc’s title track opens with some jarring, heavily distorted blasts of noise from a synthesizer; that quickly gives way to some sonic textures more readily associated with space rock (think Saucerful of Secrets-era Pink Floyd, or the more keyboard-oriented exponents of 1970s krautrock). There are even hints of seagulls a la Floyd’s “Echoes.” But to characterize “Tygerland” as musique concréte would be doing it a disservice; it’s a textural, moody piece that serves as an effective opener for the music to come.

“Cyanide” features more conventional rock-oriented instrumentation; the track’s soaring guitars wouldn’t be out of place on a Steven Wilson album. But those guitars and the electronics that preceded them don’t prepare the listener for Grace’s strong, assertive vocals. Mixed pleasingly out front, her singing is controlled, assured, and expressive. Some listeners might hear bits of Grace Slick (Jefferson Airplane) in Grace’s pipes; for some reason I’m led to think of Shocking Blue‘s Mariska Veres. “Cyanide” rock hard in an early 70s way, yet it sounds positively modern. Timeless might be a better adjective. Grace’s sturdy songwriting provides a highly melodic base for her lyrics, but leaves plenty of space for the instruments to shine.

The analog synths return on “Orange Sky.” Loads of carefully-placed delay are applied to the percussion and to Grace’s voice on this elegiac tune that drips of melancholy. With its mention of the legendary crossroads, the lengthy (but not overlong!) “War Child” feels like a modern rethink of blues; were it not for Grace’s gender, the tune would fit comfortably into the macho rock mold; as it is, the track – with delightful use of electric piano and phased/wah-wah guitar – will please those who enjoy the classic-retro stylings of Siena Root.

“Limelight” takes things in an entirely different direction. It’s a smoky, sultry, understated number that burns slowly. The sinewy lead guitar fills between Grace’s verses provide a nice contrast, and the shimmering keyboard runs suggest raindrops hitting the surface of a lake (yeah, I dunno why; they just do).

The contemplative “Razorwire” starts off with assertively chorded “lead” bass guitar. Here, Grace delivers her lyrics in a high, airy tone that suggests The Sundays‘ Harriet Wheeler; among other things, the track serves to point out the range and expressive palette of Cary Grace’s vocal abilities. “Razorwire” is perhaps the most 90s-alternapop sounding track on this varied disc. Graces’ vocal overdubs – sparingly used on the album overall – are a highlight here.

“Into the Indigo” is a subtle, minor-key track, making effective use of its relatively minimal arrangement. Into that space comes some lovely violin work, answered (again subtly) by picking guitar lines. Meanwhile, Grace sings of tales of Helios, chariots, and symphonies. Halfway through the song, the instruments break free, as the violin and guitar engage in a mighty battle.

“Windsong” is Tygerland‘s final track, but it’s also the album’s longest at over twenty minutes. Befitting the electronic music pedigree of its creator, the work unfolds slowly, delivering menacing, faraway-sounding musical textures, sometimes of indeterminate origin. After five minutes of instrumental scene-setting, Grace recites her lyrics as spoken poetry. Behind her, instrument skitter in and out of the mix, adding to the overall feel but never getting in the way of Grace’s recitation. Gradually, the instruments throb forward in the mix, seeming to force their way out front. Twelve-plus minutes in, they take over, and “Windsong” becomes a heavy, hypnotic psychedelic piece somewhere between The Doors‘ “The End” and some of Amon Düül II‘s best work. For the remainder of the track, vocals and instruments compete; eventually, Grace’s voice trails off, but it’s as if she’s done so on purpose, retreating rather than surrendering to the krautrock-flavored swirl of electrics and electronics.

Adventurous yet melodic, Tygerland is one of 2015’s more interesting releases.

(This exceptional review was posted on the Hawkwind biographer Ian Abrahams’ Spacerock Reviews website on 11 August 2015. Hyperlinks have been added.)

Drifting across boundaries, geographic, musical, comes Cary Grace, Somerset-based American, who I see getting a lot of review attention in my regular newsfeeds for psych sounds, and with justice because while the first 30 seconds of the opening title track had me wondering what was coming next – a discordant noisefest experiment – what does come next is an eclectic mix of psychedelic, progressive, jazz-fusion which moves from rich and rounded to minimalistic and bare by turn. I love it.

There’s a Pink Floyd aura to some of its early statements, part of a session from August 2014 recorded with Here & Now and Sentient’s Steffe Sharpstrings, and former Scissor Sisters keyboardist John Garden which is scattered through this record. It’s the laconic drawl of the intro to ‘Cyanide’, the second track on the album, and taken from that August work, that bursts into perfect melodic rock with Cary’s purposeful but not overpowering vocals which starts to say what a delight this one is going to be. It’s slick but edgy, rippled with sentiments of bitter frustration and building into a powerfully reflective moment. And then it twists away into ‘Orange Sky’, a much more sparse affair… I was listening to OMD’s Architecture & Morality for the first time in many years very recently; ‘Orange Sky’ has something of the hauntingly understated tones that something like ‘Sealand’ has, a feeling that even while it wraps into itself, it’s still describing a vista that is wide and open, desolate and strikingly beautiful. Its moods, Cary’s Minimoog generated,  are introverted, but the space that it visualises is vast.

‘War Child’ shifts into blues rock, studied, sleazy and alive. Here, if this were a Waterboys song, I could hear Mike Scott and his drawling diction, pulling shapes with the words, expanding and stretching them, and Cary does a similar thing, getting every word loaded with meaning and articulated with purpose. But then, it’s not about it being a record that’s like this, or like that… it’s one of the most singular, distinctive albums that I’ve been sent in quite a while, and any comparison is just to say that it has qualities that stand it along side musicians and records that have meant things across the years, it has that sort of lasting quality to it.

That hard-bitten blues gives away to light and air, ‘Limelight’, where Cary stretches out into a summertime evening warmth that’s jazzy and pop, lazily feeling good and drifting with the flow, another one taken from last August’s session I believe, and if so then built on Steffi’s expressive guitar work, and certainly also predicated on Cary’s voice leaving that blues sound behind and finding lilt and breeze. Easy going, easy listening, easy to become immersed in and float away with.

From there, the strumming and gentle bass and drums rhythms that opens ‘Razorwire’ keeps the record bathed in that sense of brightness and enveloping warmth… you could give yourself to the song and never want to come back. ‘Into The Indigo’ echoes back to earlier work, noted as recorded during sessions for Cary’s ‘Perpetual Motion’ album which some lovely winding, roving, violin from sometime Gong musician Graham Clark that gives its new home an additional texture. And then its into a 20 minute experimental, improvised, artistic, poetic, and  oft reflective piece of sound and word, ‘Windsong’ that takes this exceptional record to its conclusions.

—Ian Abrahams

Though born in South Carolina, Cary Grace has been living in the UK since 2005. The 8 tracks on her new Tygerland album, which is my introduction to Cary’s music, reveal a multi-faceted artist who can take accessible song forms and transcend the conventional by taking them into Psychedelic and experimental realms. Dig deeper and you’ll find a lady with an impressive Space Rock and electronic background. The first thing that caught my attention about Tygerland is the presence of guitarist Steffe Sharpstings on 5 tracks. Then I read about Cary’s company Wessex Analogue, which manufactures Wiard brand synthesizers. Then I came across her Bandcamp site and among her previous recordings is a freaky space-electronic collaboration with Grant Richter, who Aural Innovations readers will know from the seminal American Space Rock band F/i, who it turns out Cary recorded and toured with in the U.S. Pretty cool huh?

With this background in mind it perhaps helps to understand Cary’s accessible but not so conventional take on established song forms. The album opens with the title track, an introductory space-out and soundscape piece which includes both freakout and gliss guitar from Steffe. And then out of nowhere there’s a guitar crash and we launch into the melodic Psychedelic Pop song Cyanide, which teeters between dreamy drift and acidic corrosion, with passionate vocals from Cary and equally emotive ripping solos from Steffe. Orange Sky is another example of what may be a Pop tune at its core, but is musically elevated by a lusciously haunting ambience, acidic slow burn, and use of electronic effects that injects an alien presence into the music without overwhelming the song. Kind of like Kate Bush seriously upping the freaky factor.

The stylistic gears shift dramatically on War Child, a down ‘n’ dirty slab of soulfully Psychedelic Blues, which at 9 minutes takes off into Bluesy jamming sultry space and includes ballsy vocals from Cary. If you listen close and strip the song down to its core this could very well be the latest Country crossover hit, but Cary and company take it to some uncertain but totally cool Psychedelic “elsewhere”. Ditto for Limelight, a Jazzy/Bluesy Pop tune with a hovering aura of ambience. Razorwire is a bouncy, feel-good bit of Psychedelic sunshine Pop which includes a fun spaced out electronic effects “jam” segment. Into the Indigo is a lovely Space-Ambient Pop song and has a tasty violin solo by Graham Clark, which goes killer rocking when dueling with guitar, before melting back into the dreamy song.

Finally (hold on to you hats folks), is the 20 minute improvised Windsong, which leaves the Pop world and any sense of song structure behind to blast off into space. It’s a cosmic journey built on ambience, soundscapes, drones, electronic effects, cosmic gliss beauty and spoken word narration, until the Space Rock explosion hits near the 13 minute mark. Cary’s narration now sounds like an inflamed cross between Jim Morrison and Daevid Allen, while the music continues to blow dreamily like some intense but drifting Space-Prog blend of Gong, Pink Floyd and the early 70s German pioneers.

In summary… damn, I don’t know how to sum this up. Listeners could be forgiven for thinking the album too stylistically schizophrenic. I’ve always been among the “bring on whatever you’ve a mind to indulge in” type, so am mightily impressed with Cary’s flair for so many styles, both accessible and otherworldly. It is NOT easy to write and arrange a solid SONG. To do so and manage to up the ante with a sense of adventure, all within the context of the song, makes things very interesting. And then add to that the Space Rock and electronic factor. I really need to explore Cary’s back catalog. There’s clearly far more to her than even this varied album reveals.

For more information visit the Cary Grace web site at: http://carygrace.com Stream, download and purchase Tygerland and other Cary Grace albums at: http://music.carygrace.com

—Jerry Kranitz, Aural Innovations Originally published 8 July 2015 on aural-innovations.com. 

CARY GRACE Tygerland CD (Door 13 Music)

Cary Grace is a multi-talented artist who manufactures modular synthesisers via her company Wessex Analogue in addition to making an eclectic combination of psychedelic, progressive, electronic, and inventive pop music. Her latest album Tygerland is a collaboration with Steffe Sharpstrings (Planet Gong, Here & Now), John Garden (Scissor Sisters, Alison Moyet), Graham Clark (Gong), and Spencer Cullum Jr (Deadstring Brothers, Steelism). The title track is experimental spacey electronica. Cyanide is heavy, dark-edged rock with psych and prog elements and a classic vintage feel. Orange Sky is sophisticated pop with vintage synth and atmospheric echoey vocals. War Child is impassioned, bluesy retro rock. Limelight is a well-crafted synthesis of jazz, intelligent pop, prog, and atmospheric electronic music. Razorwire combines jangly guitar, ethereal effects, and the cosmic whirr of a vintage synth as backdrop for a pop song likely to appeal just as much to fans of classic indiepop and dreampop as those into psychedelic music. Into the Indigo is sophisticated, laid-back pop with a dreamlike, ethereal atmosphere, incorporating violin and slide guitar. Windsong is an extended piece just over 20 minutes in length, bringing together elements of spacerock, prog, spoken word, ambient, heavy rock, and evocative experimental music. This is an open-minded, intelligent, and highly enjoyable album from an artist I'm keen to hear more from. Available as of 13th July 2015 as a limited edition CD in a handmade gatefold sleeve, from www.carygrace.com, and download from most digital music outlets.

UK based American Cary Grace deftly crosses prog, psych and indie boundaries on new album ‘Tygerland’. Opening with the albums title track, a short Joe Meek electronica prog piece you’d expect the pattern to repeat throughout its eight tracks. No. Moving into the Ziggy Suede echoing ‘Cynanide’ which shows a talented songwriter singer and musician of the top order.

‘Orange Sky’ shifts into electro pop with harking back to Tori Amos’ late 90s period but bridging to the 70s with its Minimoog sound. Then we have the blues rock of ‘War Child’ queuing into jazz pop ‘Limelight’ moving to perfect guitar indie with the ethereal of psych ‘Razorwire’.

Penultimate number ‘Into The Indigo’ brings us towards psychedelia before closing this remarkable album with prog piece ‘Windsong’. ‘Tygerland’ tramples over any attempt to be classified with Cary Grace equally at home across all rock genres. —Jason Barnard