Gintis

Gintis' debut three-track EP, recorded in an abandoned Llandudno nightclub.


Many great bands formed at school, and Gintis might just be another. Hailing from Rhyl, the youthful quintet specialise in delicately crafted lo-fi grace - think Grandaddy or Pavement, with a laid back tint that's already attracted many admirers.

Yet No Quizzical Eyebrow slowly builds with idiosyncratic guitars and lilting piano, whilst Philosophical Transactions Of A Disappointed Physicist brings synth delicacy to the forefront: mashed with some wayward guitar it really is quite moving in its minimal grace.

Finally, Carrot=Donkey rounds off an excellent debut, recalling the patented quirky-yet-sorrowful laments of Gorky's and not forgetting some great lyrics: "Getting drunks not the same without you here," croons Carl Gintis, "Kronenbourg won't taste the same when you're not here." Quite, quite beautiful.

Words: James W Roberts
- BBC Wales Music

So here's the question: On boarding the train you enter the carriage and find yourself face to face with Stephen Malkmus, Noel Gallagher and Euros Childs. Who do you throw off first?

Answer: No need to bother, grab a copy of "Happy Drunken Accidents" by Gintis, plug in your ears, stick your feet up and settle back for the journey.

If the meeting of these pop minds sounds like an unlikely tryst then dial straight to "Wonderful Show". It's a song that's full of pop swagger. It struts along sporting guitars reminiscent of "Transmissions" era Flaming Lips with a outro chorus borne on a tide of choral keys that propel the song to the finish line.

Carl Gintis is a master of the bittersweet sentiment that appeals to the melancholy nature of folks. "Wonderful Show" opens with the words "Are you still so sad that you can't get up from your bed, Is the world really so bad that you only like it when your out of your head", and it's this kind of match of downbeat beauty offset by the uplifting warmth of the song that works oh so well. Some people often claim that in other realities their tunes would be top of the charts, but I've been there and "Wonderful Show" is that song.

In stark contrast "Tamaulipas" is some sort of deranged hybrid of delicate country refrain and crazed mariachi band, a bar brawl of a song that's broken up by a Bacharach horn section bussed in from the local drunk tank, with a melody that seeps into the distance as the song draws to a close.

"Gentlemen Jim" is a tune for voice and banjo performed by erstwhile guitarist Kyle Gintis and it wouldn't sound out of place on Harry Smith's famous Anthology of American Folk Music - you can almost smell the reek of whisky fumes drifting off some southern hick. A tale of some latter day Bonnie and Clyde, "If you know your history then you'll steer clear of me, I'm a drinking, smoking good for nothing liar and a thief, Oh I ain't never been to jail cause I'm still on the run, I'm halfway across the interstate with a fully loaded gun".

To be honest this record is so strong lyrically that it's hard to settle on favourite lines, but if i were tied to the track in front of an oncoming train and it were the only chance of escape, then i'd probably go with these words from "Chatney's Loss" - "He said "It must be a sign form above", I said "It's more like a cosine oin a triangle of love".

Halfway into the album you'll find "Anna Don't Know" - and it'll show you the two sides of Gintis. It start up like some Crooked Rain era Pavement tune with this great irony fuelled lyric about a failing relationship - "I though I could play the field, but I was caught in your offside trap", then mid song everything turns about face and you get this incredible mix of plaintive horns and fuzzed guitar and Carl sings, "nothing, nothing, nothing ever lasts, and sometimes it is all your own fault, and your heart just kind off falls apart, and nothing ever lasts around here". It'll break your heart... almost, and that's how it is in Gintis world.

Beautiful art and music is made in the darkest of places and Rhyl (where the Gintis boys hail from) has long outlived any seaside charm if it ever had any. You can almost picture them packing up sticks as soon as the album was finished and hitting the road out of town, "So long Rhyl" thanks for a lifetime of ragged inspiration - and by the way we won't be coming back.

The album closes with the mighty "People Defiant" - a song written by drummer Joe Gintis. It's a masterpiece of a song that's crammed with ideas and it'll remind you of so many things. It starts with a piano riff built on nursery rhyme simplicity that's twinned with vocals full of Beach Boys trickery and a vocal refrain that says everything about holding your own against the weight of the world, "And it's all fictitious science, and it's all religious alliance, and it's all government compliance, but we are people defiant". The song stops and then drifts off into a mass of rolling pianos, plucked strings, fuzzy guitars and music box - it's reminiscent of the Beta Band or Jim O'Rourke and then out of nowhere you get these electronic beats and a Sgt Peppers style horn refrain. This is a song that deserves to bring such a fine album to a close.

There's a feeling you get when you find a band who's music you love, and it's based on the knowledge that there's yet another thing in life to look forward too. That sometime in the future, be it months or years - a new record will appear and you'll walk home from the store and tear off the plastic wrapper and slide the disc into the tray.

"Happy Drunken Accidents" is the first Gintis album. Life just got better.

Ben Clay

- Ben Clay