Gifts From Enola
Loyal Eyes Betrayed The Mind
© 2006 Gifts From Enola (634479429477)
Instrumental rock from Virginia. www.myspace.com/giftsfromenola
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Taken from www.thesilentballet.com
"Unsurprisingly, Loyal Eyes Betrayed Our Minds is a shining example of what all instrumental rock bands should be doing. Gifts From Enola juxtapose elements of post-rock with a large hard-rock mindset and then allow an experimental bent to soften the edges. Structurally Loyal Eyes covers all the bases. Some songs explode out of the gates with blistering intensity and then recede slowly back into the sonic landscape with a timid disposition. Other times the band waits for the dynamic breakdown and sets the scene up with calm waves of ambience and scant field recordings. The longer tracks on the album "City Lights Scraped the Sky" and "Screaming at Anything that Move" see the band doing its best post-rock impression, undulating through passages densely populated with guitar riffs and those which contain only the solo beat of the drum or lone picking of the guitar. I find these two tracks to be the most indicative of the band's future; not only does the band break the mold and deliver the lengthy song in a digestible form, but we also see them delving into a slightly jam-oriented act. Had this been taken to its logical conclusion Loyal Eyes would liken have been ruined by the intangible meanderings of a reckless band. However, Gifts From Enola stay enough in form to keep the track moving along smoothly and this conscious move is a spectacular dessert to an already hearty meal.
I'd be lying if I said that Loyal Eyes didn't contain that spark that makes you want to listen to it repeatedly ad nausea. These four young men have a passion about the music they're creating that really makes the album an enjoyable experience. At the core of it, that’s really what music is all about. Youth often boils music down to the essentials, and Gifts From Enola shows exactly how captivating that can be. "
reviews
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Love this album!
author: Pierce AndersonThis album rocks, hard! Plain and simple... Wonderful Post-Rock music with heavy metal influences.
This is not a review.
author: SylvainSince your "private CD Baby jet" landed in my town the Gifts from Enola record has been playing without a stop. While you treated it with great care I tortured it with no mercy. ;) I don't like these so called 'journalists' whose job is to tell us what is cool to listen to and what is not. We don't need critics to tell us what to like. So I won't give you a review, as you asked me, but only warm congratulations and support to all these musicians who perform and create unconventionnal, surprising music, that you may not likely hear on any radio station. Is GfE an underground band? Don't know. Underground is not good for itself. Underground can be crap too! But the music I usually enjoy is not catchy, needs to be listened to carefully. Gifts from Enola is that kind of music, simply. Thanks CDBaby for sending it over the oceans, thanks for the nice mail too!
Gifts
author: Willie WlizloA very nice instrumental rock CD in the same vein of Russian Circles. Peaks at "Miles of White" and "Screaming at Anything that Moved".
Excellent CD!!
author: DebraThis music is awesome. A big change from the same old stuff you hear on the radio today. Great album.
Post-rock's greatest hope
author: JoeMazThis CD arrived at my door on a Wednesday. That night I listened to it four times all the way through while doing work on my computer. It is amazing in every aspect. The songs are written in such a way that they maintain a great deal of musical suspense during the quiet/ambient parts, but they are also amazingly heavy during the loud parts. This band rivals the brutally heavy crescendos of Mogwai's best moments. There is also a great deal of technicality in the playing, which is something that has only recently become common in post rock. But being suspenseful, or heavy, or technical does not make a good post-rock album. What makes a truely enjoyable instrumental record is being able to balance all of these aspects in a way that really makes the listener want to hear the tracks over and over again. Gifts From Enola have found and used these techniques in the absolute perfect amounts. This feat of songwriting is complimented by fantastic all around production. So as I said, this record was delivered to me on a Wednesday. By Sunday, I had listened to it eight times all the way through. One week later, I went to a local venue to see "Explosions In the Sky", one of the most popular and well known post-rock bands at the moment. This show was sold out, as is most of their current tour. They put on an amazing show, but during their entire set all I could think about was all the things that Gifts From Enola do better. It is because of this that I say that Gifts From Enola could be the best post-rock band on the planet right now. They have a sound that is, for now, all their own. But I would not be surprised if, in five years, everyone is ripping them off.
An excellent album
author: Luke MollanThe most enjoyable album I've listened to in a while. I don't remember the last time I played an album three times in a row, but I did it with this. It's good to know post-rock has a promising future.
Exciting Instrumental Alnum
author: DavidFantastic, exciting new instrumental rock. With great emphasis on the 'rock' aspect of post-rock. Putting some much-needed energy into the scene. Huge potential. Buy this beauty.
This CD has many great instrumentals and makes good listening.
author: Barbara ServedioI am very glad I purchased this CD. The music is awesome. Collectively, the band does a fantastic job of bringing out an exciting sound that is different from all others. I could sit and listen to this CD for hours and hours. Can't wait to hear additional CD's from this band. Good Job!
One of the albums of 2006
author: James OuldLoyal Eyes Betrayed The Mind opens with "Behind Curtains Closing," which starts with a lulling guitar before exploding into a crashing riff, not a million miles away from "Greet Death" by Explosions in the Sky, before, at 3 minutes and 23 seconds, something magical happens. Out of seemingly nowhere, this fast, heavy, and complicated guitar riff appears, changing the whole tempo and feel of song, taking it on to the next level. Gifs From Enola have certainly followed the old cliché "put your best foot forward," unleashing the best song on the album first. But the rest of the album is in no way a let down, it just highlights how strong the opening track is. "Early Morning Ambulance" follows on nicely, with heavy riffage added with a high pitched guitar, before it all comes to a crashing rhythmical finale, and sounds not dissimilar to Russian Circles. "City Lights Scraped The Sky" contains one of the best breakdowns you’re likely to hear, with two guitars duelling with each other to create a gorgeous little melody, before exploding into some more heavy riffage. "In The Company Of Others" kicks off with some jazz inspired bass line, and then becomes even more frantic with the introduction of a distortion pedal and guitar tapping solos. One of the many great things about Loyal Eyes Betrayed The Mind is that no two tracks sound the same, and over the course of forty seven minutes you’re treated to many delights, with no song making me reach for the fast-forward button. It’s heavy in all the right places, but never too heavy, and Gifts From Enola mix moments of ambience really well, especially at the start of "Miles Of White" and "Memoranda." And when I say the album is heavy, it never ventures down the route of endless chugging riffs a la Isis and Pelican (two clear influences of the band), but instead Gifts From Enola develop intricate riffs, layered over a lead melody, to create something enjoyable each time. Gifts From Enola will fall under the umbrella of post-rock, but they are in no way confined to this genre, as they seem so adept at bringing others into the mix. There’s metal, rock, math-rock, jazz, and ambience all thrown together here, and it alludes to something quite wonderful. When the end of year polls come around, this album will feature highly in my list, and if there are any albums better than this, I can’t wait to hear them. Loyal Eyes Betrayed The Mind truly is a gift for all.