DEMON

With all the bombast available today, sometimes I just need a quiet, delicate album full of consistent melody and crystalline beauty. Gazpacho's new album "Demon" is one such album that has captured my heart more than my rapt attention. It is serene, fragile, and moving; but it also has some surprises up its sleeve.

Gazpacho hails from Norway, which is a surprise for some reason. To me, they sound a bit like Coldplay mixed with Muse and Radiohead. This is just an attempt to explain their sound, as the sound is completely unique to them. The music, as I said, is very quiet. The first few tracks are especially mute and peaceful, as Jan Henrik Ohme's beautiful vocals play the major role. However, this album is intensely eclectic in its subtlety. Accordions, banjos, and mandolins join the array of atmospheric keys, surprisingly dark guitars, amazing bass, and light, yet somehow technical, drums. This makes for an experience unlike any I've had for the past few years at least.

With this array of instruments, the band crafts subtle songs full of feeling and a brooding intensity. Soft, slow rhythms join low instrumentation: Serene vocals smooth the mixture to perfection. Even the inclusion of a choir at points is done delicately. Indeed, "Demon" is elegant in its simplicity, but amazingly complex when you least expect it.

The album is made up of four songs, some of them multi-track. "I've Been Walking", both parts of it, are slow and easy-going. They are ponderous and very mature. "The Wizard of Altai Mountains" is a more upbeat affair with plenty of foot-stomping accordion and mandolin work. It's so beautifully simple, but no one else does this sound! The last song, however, is definitely my favorite. The three-part "Death Room" is sheer genius, and the bass player really shines here. On part 2, especially, the bass player crafts a bass line unlike any I've ever heard, and it's a masterwork and will probably be my favorite of 2014. Slight electronic elements make their way into this song that almost feels like post-metal at times. The third part of "Death Room" opens up with dark riffing that, although never heard in the album beforehand, seems so appropriate and satisfying.

You see, Gazpacho has composed an album that never feels tired. It never overuses any element. Every instrument is used to full effect and never outwears its welcome. There is so much space in "Demon", space that creates a beautiful vacuum for music to live and breathe. As this album progresses more and more in different territory, you will even long for some of the earlier melodies to return. They do not, but this gives you all the more reason to revisit the album again and again.

Gazpacho has offered an album unlike anything you will hear this year, for sure. "Demon" is scarily introspective, beautifully wrought, and surprisingly inventive. The band has taken a stand against bombast and showboating, and I applaud them for it. I hope to see more bands take that plunge.