Review Summary: A solo story.
We’ve all spent a lot of time indoors these last five years, so it’s only natural that home studio releases have seen a noticeable rise in quality as of late. Take for example Lethbridge, Alberta’s own Kim Elliot who has been self-producing albums under the Sentries moniker since 2020, each one showing tremendous improvement over the last. Considering Elliot’s debut,
Agonizer, was technically a school project for his final year at university, it seems like Sentries is not only a musical endeavor but a real-time experiment in home recording as well. Despite this, last year’s
Snow as a Metaphor for Death showcased a solo artist exhibiting a full band’s worth of talent on a relatively shoestring budget to compete with any number of modern noise-influenced rock groups of today.
Gem of the West is certainly a step forward towards honing the immense sound of the previous Sentries albums into a more controlled chaos. The abrasive attitude of
Snow is still present here, albeit channeled through more stylish and versatile songwriting. Take the IDLES/Jesus Lizard inspired rock sound and add on a layer of Radiohead sophistication and you get tracks like “Code”, a superb opener as stylish as it is uneasy. Follow that up with “The Cowboy’s Corpse” and you have another definite highlight that oozes post-punk revival flair with shades of Paul Banks deadpan vocal delivery and some charming bedroom electronics.
Several stylistic influences are introduced on
Gem such as the Windmill-esque experimental sound of the vocals and instrumentation on “I Saw Someone Die in Sudbury, ON”, Latin-inspired guitar on “Red Eye Removal” as well as the more western style heavy guitars on the instrumental track “Dungeon Crawler”. The programmed drumming can sometimes leave this album’s sound feeling inconsistent, but it can also add to tracks like “I Can, and I Will”, giving the song an almost industrial pulse that perpetuates the anxious feel of much of the album. This all ties together with the lengthy smashing closer “Nails”, sending things off with some wonderfully wailing guitars to close out this
Gem.
There are some interesting creative choices here, many that boast great potential for Sentries going forward. Some of them would have likely been done justice by a full studio, but given that this is a self-produced solo project, the limitation seems to add to the DIY appeal that
Gem of the West has. There’s something here, maybe not entirely realized or cohesive on every track, but where it shines through it’s bound to elicit curiosity and enthusiasm from any number of potential labels. That being said, one can’t help but wonder if such a prospect would become a hinderance for one as multi-talented as Kim Elliot who’s so used to being at the helm of nearly every aspect of his music. We’ll just have to wait and see, until then we can only marvel at one’s passion come to fruition.
Recommended Tracks:
Code
The Cowboy’s Carcass
Red Eye Removal
Nails
