Chuter

Glisten Amber Plains EP

Written by: DR on 16/11/2011 22:30:26

Mr. Jack Chuter first came to the attention of Rockfreaks.net in 2006 under the moniker Excido, with his debut album "This Is Happening", which received a positive review - with PP noting how well it was put together. So much so in fact, that the notion Chuter was only 16 years old at the time was pretty staggering. Now, five years later, Chuter is back, now putting music out under his surname and supposedly focusing less on post-metal, and more on a shoegaze-esque route.

If there was a metal edge to Chuter's previous works then it's one that he seems have outgrown with his latest four-song EP, "Glisten Amber Plains". From the deft, minimalistic drum-patterns and feint electronics painted in the start of the opening title-track, the listener is threatened to be drawn into an otherworldly experience of engaging ambient music. This is soon derailed violently, however, when poorly constructed industrial guitar-chords and the manic chanting - of what I'm assuming is Jack Chuter himself - come roaring in and completely upset the flow of the song. The following song, "A Planet Has Passed Away", also suffers from the incoherent babbling of Chuter smacked on top of otherwise star-gazing instrumentation, which is an odd move because the music itself is interesting, whereas the inclusion of vocals, especially vocals of that kind, feel out of place amidst that soundscape and only serve to distract annoyingly from any beauty being created beneath it.

"Glisten Amber Plains" isn't without hope, though. The vocals, again, spoil a decent composition in "Not The Same" as they lack the softness required to fit in with the airy atmosphere, but closer "Steady" is warped enough to not warrant any kind of '-gazing' mark rubbed on it, which suits the voice of Chuter better. Moreover, in that final song he actually incorporates an industrial/metallic crescendo, but this time he gets it right, which hits the listener harder than anything else on the album.

Ultimately however, "Glisten Amber Plains" is an underwhelming release by an artist who never really presents himself as though he has a firm hand on what he's trying to do. Some of the industrial tendencies work, some of them don't; the vocals are generally pretty bad and needless; while the compositions themselves are poised and well pieced together - in those you can see Chuter's potential reflected, but they're otherwise not enough to redeem this release.

Download: Steady
For The Fans of: My Bloody Valentine, Jesu
Listen: Bandcamp

Release Date 14.08.2011
Self-Released


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