Immense — Hidden Between Sleeves
Of course, if you’re a fan of experimental music in general, you probably won’t consider Immense as being *that* daring. However, it still sounds better than sub-par experimentation some big name rock band has indulged in a couple of years ago (Amnesiac anyone?).
Immense music is mostly very quiet. If you take the opener, you have some very nice and gentle guitar work, a little electronics and soothing, cradling, nursing voice. The singer is one Rocky Votolato from Seattle, USA who happens to be the brother from one of the Blood Brother’s members. He appeared on this album as a guest, Immense have found a full time singer shortly after the release of the record. There is a little more power in Shave the gong, the second track. Some guitar noodling, free flowing drumming and a sound that acquires more and more depth seconds after seconds before Votolato comes in, adding a strong emotional value to the song. The third track is more of a epic. Mostly because of the strings parts and the keys. Some very nice guitar work too. Gradually the song becomes a little darker, almost ominous. Skitty piano is the first song using electronics in a prominent way. It’s almost an ambient piece, with soft glitches, an almost muted voice (until Votolato starts to actually sing in a most beautiful fashion), and processed guitars, with sounds that seemingly stretch for hours. Track 20 is almost purely electronic music, coming actually quite close to what Coil did on Musick to play in the dark. Unfortunately, it’s much less fascinating. Some more work to be done on that side… Things get better with the next song, HMS Immense, which might well be my favourite of the record. It has some sort of happily melancholic vibe going which really appeals to me, it makes you want to move a little, shake softly your head until the track reach its intensity heights when the guitars and the drums kick in, a very powerful momentum. On that particular track, Immense live up to their name. 22,000 is a very nice ditty, coming nowhere near the greatness of the previous track, but it’s still an enjoyable song. 3-year plan is an entirely different proposal, sounding like a film score, with piano and strings and all. Maybe they will work on scores in the future? This track hints that they might be quite good at it. Album closer (and title track) is a sort of mixture of every song on the album: it has the ambient guitar of Skitty piano, the electronic work of Track 20 and the quietness of the first track.
Hidden between sleeves is a very nice album. It won’t change the face of experimental music, but it sure can show the way to many: being different is possible. And a couple of the songs here are just superb.