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Members
Edo
Kahn: singer/guitarist
Peter Farley: bass/horns/vocals
Nadav Kahn: sonic keys/harp/vocals
Art Wilson: drums/cello
Latest Release
See
The World
1704
Albums
/ Lp's
See
The World
1704
Website
www.gelbison.com.au
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See
The World is a warm invitation into the world of Gelbison,
a pop record even, with ‘pop’ not the sometimes
derisive term it can be today.
It’s an album of a band finding itself, becoming looser
and more approachable. Finding strength, faith, and a confidence
in itself. Such revelation best comes from times of adversity.
Such is the case here.
"Before we started recording, I really didn’t know
if we could do it," admits singer-guitarist Edo.
"All the dramas of life had just mounted up. I’d
just broken up with my girlfriend, Dave (Galafassi, ex-drummer)
had married and decided to leave the band, and the weight of
expectations that comes with a second record, was getting to
me."
The unusual answer: "I dropped to my knees and cried. I
opened myself and let it all flow out." The musical results
are never less than honest, and often joyous. The emotions expressed
go from the aching to the euphoric. As a songwriter, Edo has
found his voice, which strengthened by his co-writing partnership
with Nadav, sees the Kahn Brothers spearhead
a band with Peter Farley that can revel in
its own reinvention.
See The World takes stylistic and musical leaps
from Gelbison’s critically-acclaimed debut, 1704.
The listener will find hints of the band’s passion for
electronica, ambient loops, cinematic orchestration and the
stripped back folk-country simplicity the Kahn Brothers found
in their Nations By The River collaboration.
But, the fact Gelbison do it with such subtlety, and in the
context of infectious melodies, tighter and simply more assured
songs, is further evidence of their artistic growth and the
strength of this record.
"In 1704 we explored a wide range of our
personalities and influences," Edo explains. "The
canvas felt limitless and we tried to incorporate everything
we love about music into the one painting. In See The
World, the canvas is still full but somehow the picture
is clearer."
See The World flows from emotion to intellect and back
again. From the previewing single All The Rage
– its guitar swing and rhythmic insistence counterpointing
Edo letting you into his thought processes and mixed feelings
of a love now gone, to the splitting intimacy and surrender
of album closer Be Broken To Be Whole. There
is Holy’s dark self-affirmation, against
the sweet Summer Of Love. A whispered sharing
in All Your Scars contrasting the fizzing new
wave pop-politic anthem of Poets. The words
are sometimes bold, sometimes open to a dozen interpretations.
The guitars are melodic and discordant – sometimes at
once. A bed of close-to-white-noise technology segues into a
gentle sob of strings. Things are seen from original angles.
And yet, it all fits, remaining uniquely Gelbison. This is their
truth.
The world is already listening. The band’s appearances
at the premier music conference, South X SouthWest in Texas,
were widely acclaimed by both industry and the media from both
sides of the Atlantic. Gelbison made just about every pundit’s
list of ‘bands to watch’. Live reviews, and acclaim
for the now American-released 1704, have been
as glowing as they were here.
See The World showcases a now more confident
band. Though collaborators in this record have helped shape
its beautiful and unique sound. The band teamed up with co-producers
Ben Frost (Programmer) and again with Gomez’s
Ian Ball. The album features piano flourishes from
The Necks’ lauded Chris Abrahams and
drummer Tony Buck. Other musicians include drummers Malcolm
Clarke (Sleepy Jackson), Art Wilson (People of Alaska), Toby
Doctor (Sounds Like Sunset), Hamish Stewart and noted
avant-garde performers Oren Ambarchi (Sun),
Scott Horscroft (Engineer/Mixing). Claire Cooper
(Harp) and Naomi Radom (Coda) again providing
the string arrangements that add even more colour to Gelbison’s
worldview.
"To us, it just comes down to a matter of ‘Head versus
Heart’, and can you find a balance? Ultimately you have
to trust your heart and let it melt the anxieties of the mind",
offers Edo. For a generation full of confusion, frustrations,
and contradictions it’s a deceptively straightforward
view. That Gelbison can voice this complex range of feelings
in the context of some incredibly honest and infectious songs
makes this record even more special.
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