Discovering David Grubbs’ music is a bit like eating a jawbreaker. The deeper one goes, the more varied layers get. At first the surface seems a bit stale and unappealing, but soon the curiosity strikes. Sometimes many different in a row of delicious exotic flavours may occur. Other times it just tastes like what an old person would be in candy form. Until finally the core is reached and it crumbles into yummy powder, insanely increasing the hunger for sugar, eventually turning this generation of children into hardcore diabetics. Well, maybe that last part is stretching it a bit, but the point of Grubbs’ creativity remains.
Act Five, Scene One is a mini-jawbreaker in itself, an unpredictable, yet strangely cyclic post-rock album. It’s a mix of calm, inventive guitar work, and mechanical soundscapes. It terms of structure, it’s as simple as it sounds, each of the four sections are made of introspective, bold guitar work in the first half, and erratic ambience in the second. Though each section seems disappointingly similar at first, the subtle differences and intertwining of minimal sounds makes repeated listens more enjoyable and revealing.
Grubbs’ guitar finally is what I initially liked the most about his later work, initially making fitful avant-garde music, his latter days involve intricate, but modestly delivered string plucking. The first intervals of
Act Five, Scene One’s parts show off this musical side of him greatly. Though it’s all overall in a laid-back style, Grubbs encompasses an ample amount of moods in these solo guitar instrumentals, from upbeat pop resembling his more adult alternative works, to on-the-brink-of-chaotic over layered guitar wailing. Never letting things get too repetitive, simple drumming and minimal, yet unsettling random noises occasionally join in with Grubbs’ reflective jamming.
Never wanting his avant-garde image to be tarnished, the ambient side of
Act Five, Scene One shows David Grubbs tinkering with jarring, yet atmospheric sounds. Each track typically has some down time in between the guitar calming down and the soundscapes blooming, making some shuffled quiet noises to bridge the gap, whether it’d be the sounds of cars driving by, or techno gadgets sputtering off. Sometimes that bridge is long, and the industrial climax arrives seemingly late, making a
Godspeed You! Black Emperor type of tense build-up. The climaxes are usually odd ones, sometimes leaving me with the feeling of disappointment after so much build-up, like a brand new space shuttle blowing up at the landing pad after a three-hour waiting time of pure aerodynamic-erotically charged anticipation. Though with one of the sections ending in a dissonant clash of violins making noise, it sounds as if that space shuttle blowing up was the climax after all. Other apexes are simply Grubbs continuing his love of atonal electronic music, piecing together out-of-synch beats, overloaded reverb, and noisy curios.
Act Five, Scene One is a lot like it’s packaging. It leaves a sense of disembodiment in the music, having no vocals and presented with robotic music, resembling the anonymity of the cover and the nameless songs. Still, the guitar work provides a ray of warmth in the music throughout the strange, and unpredictable machinelike post-rock. It’s a rewarding, but not entirely enjoyable, experience for anyone who wants to hear unconventional soundscapes. The real downfall of this album though, is how all four parts are constructed exactly the same way, making it hard to get into because of its initial repetitiveness. Patience is needed with the album. Just like it’s needed with finishing a jawbreaker. No one wants chipped teeth.
