Gnoss: Drawn From Deep Water
Black Fly Records – Out Now
Building on the good reviews and reception to their 2016 debut album, their 2018 EP Brother Wind and their live performances, Glasgow-based Gnoss return with 2019’s Drawn From Deep Water. With core duo Graham Rorie and Aidan Moodie now firmly augmented by Connor Sinclair and Craig Baxter, the album offers an assured and engaging next step.
Gnoss’s origins and influences are clearly defined. All current or former members of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow, the group draw on traditional Scots folk influences to present energetic and intricate music balanced between songs from the canon and self-penned compositions. Produced by Ross Ainslie and engineered by Gus Stirrat predominantly at Solas Sound, Drawn From Deep Water’s production is crisp, materially capturing the movement from duo to quartet and the subsequent opening up and broadening of the band’s signature sound.
Previous commentators have made much of the band’s virtuosity. As alumni of a conservatoire, technical facility should be taken as read. It is very much to the fore in the instrumentals Hasse A’s and An Orkney Christmas, as well as The Five of Spades and The Sea Widow. Folk and Traditional musics are currently enjoying a high-water mark in the technical standards of their practitioners, and these four tracks in particular display impeccable, exemplary playing and interplay between the group.
The danger of being a virtuoso musician comes when you have nothing else to express but your facility. Athletic ability is impressive up to a point, but if you have nothing to say beyond that it gets old very quickly. Luckily, for all of the fireworks on display in Drawn From Deep Water, Gnoss show a capacity for lyrical and more nakedly emotional playing that serves them and their material well. It’s always been there, of course. The sensitive and moving interpretation of Black is the Colour on their first album indicated their expressive capacity. It’s present again in Drawn From Deep Water in Aidan Moodie’s wonderfully expressive voice and Graham Rorie’s fiddle and mandolin – Gnoss are one of those rare birds in folk: a group you can name after hearing their first notes – but it’s more to the fore than ever before. There is an organic grooving quality to The Five of Spades that reflects their abilities as a live group capable of moving an audience with their playing, while The Sea Widow is exquisitely poised and deeply moving. A strong album overall, this track stands out as it indicates the emotional content the band are capable of mining and the potential they have for lyricism in their delivery. It sounds odd to say given the plaudits that Gnoss have collected, but this feels like a band beginning to realise their potential and understand their ability to connect their technique to their expressive capacities.
A partial reason for the development of the band beyond increasing maturity and time under the wheel can perhaps be traced to the addition of Baxter and Sinclair. Baxter’s bodhran playing is truly exceptional and it is something that the other members pick on and play off. There is a flowing, gliding feel to the pulses of the rhythm. The tracks are still propulsive and are at times blisteringly driving, but even when flat-out, there is a lightness of touch that is evocative and stirring. The presence of James Lindsay, Kim Carnie and Zoe Bestel augment and add depth to the songs they guest on.
Drawn From Deep Water is their best yet and an assured next step. The material indicates the progression Gnoss have made since their debut and augurs well for their futures. No doubt this release will be supported by live shows which showcase the band’s abilities further. As such, I recommend checking this album out and getting yourself along to a gig. You won’t be disappointed.
Order Drawn from Depp Water via Bandcamp: https://gnossmusic.bandcamp.com/