Listen, the holidays get harder every year. We assume they’ve been doing that since the dawn for the first holiday, and at this point the tail end of 2023 drags like a bag of wet cement. But we’re not trying to get all down about it – if anything, we are making an effort to do the opposite, and luckily, we have this absolutely bonkers album from Garrett Gleason to talk about.
Myths and Hymns, if you didn’t know, is technically an album by Adam Guettel. Guettel’s output is generally the kind of high-class, New York avant jazz that you might associate with Pat Metheny or John Scofield. While this is far from our go-to genre when it comes to beating holiday malaise, it’s genuinely fascinating stuff, and the idea of a Garret Gleason covering those same chords and melodies is a fascinating proposal.
Check out “Awaiting You” below for a taste of the mercurial madness. It’s a fairly straightforward cut, but does a good job at illustrating the fusion (is that a jazz pun?) of Garrett’s textural obsessions and Guettel’s original shapes.
Elsewhere, songs like “Sisyphus” and “Link” are almost immediately recognizable as Gleason-isms. Remember, we’ve gotten like, three or four records from the guy this year, all of which are intensely ambitious in their own ways. To say it’s inspiring is a massive understatement – in fact, this is the kind of project we’ve been wanting to see Gleason take on for some time now.
Whether it’s a case study, a tribute, or messy mixture of both, the now existing dualities of Myths and Hymns are somehow symbiotic. Much like the Seven)Suns tribute to The Dillinger Escape Plan we covered last month, Gleason’s version gives Adam Guettel’s compositions entirely new contexts in which to resonate., like finally having your old friend from high school over at your new apartment. If that’s not too holiday cheer-y for you.
And again, it’s not that this is a holiday record, but given that there are a lot of smoky, sentimental seventh-chords happening in Guettel’s version, Gleason’s reinterpretations via tragic robo-guitar noise are absolutely gifts we’ll accept any time of year.
Godspeed you merry gentle-people. We’ve got a hell of a Top 50 Math Rock Releases of 2023 coming your way the last week of the year, and rest assured, AT LEAST ONE of Garrett’s fantastic releases will be seen there. We don’t want to brag, but it just might be our most killer list yet, and really, that’s on you, so once again, thanks for being you.