A SUNNY DAY IN GLASGOW - NITETIME RAINBOWS EP
March 02, 2010,
Written by Laura Lotti
Label: Mis Ojos Discos, Octave/Ultra-Vybe
Release Date: 02/03/2010
Website: Official website
A Sunny Day In Glasgow have always been a mystery to me.
I remember buying my first record from them a couple of years ago in one of my new-music-hunting spree at Pure Groove (for the record, it was the impeccable Scribble Mural Comic Journal).
When I first listened to that album, it was one of those gloomy days that only British weather can offer – and while letting my gaze wander out of the window, I was asking myself what a sunny day in Glasgow must be.
Now I know that ASDIG are actually from Philadelphia and have nothing to do with the Scottish landscape, a part from the fact that ASDIG mastermind Ben Daniels - who, despite the ever-changing line-up of the band, keeps being the brain behind the band’s dreamy-pop sound and haunting melodies of faraway places - lived there for a while and never forgot it, apparently.
After Scribble Mural Comic Journal came out I never heard of the band again, and even the superb Ashes Grammar, released last year, and which contains already a version of ‘Nitetime Rainbow’, passed strangely unobserved to my eyes and especially ears.
But I’m quickly catching up and Nitetime Rainbows will definitely be the target of my next record shopping spree. Plus, it comes only in digital and vinyl, which is another pro (CDs should be banned in my ideal world!)
‘Nitetime Rainbow’ opens with a classic ASDIG vibe, a bit dreamy, a bit space-y, a bit melancholic, a bit floaty... The fuzzy guitars and hypnotic keyboards remind of Memory Tapes ’Bicycle’, only more complex and harmonic, a kind of richness of sound – but not too much – that could only be achieved by a full band, as ASDIG are.
But it’s ‘Daytime Rainbows’ the most surprising track of the EP. With its shoegaze-y guitars, drones and heavy toms, it sounds more Dum Dum Girls than ASDIG, and it’s so catchy and hypnotic that one could listen to it forever.
‘So Bloody, So Tight’ keeps up with ASDIG trademark drones, echoes and otherworldly atmospheres, while ‘Pianos Lessons’ delivers 6 minutes of piano virtuosity combined to an almost krautrock backing track.
The following 3 tracks of the EP are remixes of ‘Nitetime Rainbows’ - which is OK, but to be honest, I found them unnecessary, being the original track already so beautiful.
Anyway, here is a great EP from a genuinely great band, which finally deserves to get out of the shadow.
Their calendar is full of dates and I see they’re going to play in SXSW 2010 too. Still no dates for London, but I’m sure we’ll hear from these guys soon.
What say you on this? Sound off in our Fourum!
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