GIN LADY:
Magnus Kärnebro - vocals & guitar
Anthon Johansson - bass
Fredrik Normark - drums
Johnny Stenberg - lead guitar
Sweden’s GIN LADY is a band that was introduced to me by my friend, the late esteemed Rick Dashiell. Right there, that should tell you something. “Rick & Roll” was a fountain of musical knowledge & badassery and, in the words of some great poet, he didn’t fuck around. Some years back, Rick had made me a CD-r of an album by GIN LADY. He’d also apprised me of the fact that they had BLACK BONZO in their history, another great hard rock band. The disc Rick made me delivered serious kick-ass 70’s hard rock vibes. Greatest thing I’d ever heard? No, but solid enough that it found its way into my car player on more than one occasion. I’m thinking that may have been somewhere around their 3rd album.
Fast forward to last year. In all the confusion of the intervening 7 years, I’d kinda forgotten whether these Swedes had fired 5 shots or 6. None had hit me, however, but I saw a blurb that they’d signed with Ripple Records. As with Mr. Dashiell’s involvement, this also gave me pause. It didn’t give me paws, so I still had thumbs & therefore I did a little poking around on the net. What I learned was that GIN LADY had been steadily expanding their sound beyond the normal confines of hard rock. This had me curious, so I contacted the good Dr. Todd for a copy of the new G.L. disc.
I have to say that it’s been quite a long while since I’ve been this surprised with an album. Maybe not since before the dawn of time, but a stretch, that’s for sure. Like, I said earlier, the last time I’d encountered GIN LADY, they were plying the trade of solid hard rock. As this one began to unfold, though, I found myself being transported. I found myself in a land of the very late ‘60’s/early 70’s, when things were a little fuzzier around the edges. This could either have been from the acid or due to the fact that things had yet to get so goddamned genre-specific. That’s what this music is borne of, and it’s a wonderful thing to behold.
From the very beginning, with the flowing yet pastoral rock of “The Paramount,” it’s clear there’s something different afoot here. This album feels to me like a beautiful spring day when I’m out at Gunpowder Park walking along the Sweathouse Branch. I almost expect to hear the waters of the stream flowing over the rocks between songs. Now, that’s not to say this is in any way weak or flaccid music. No, this is powerful stuff but in a very open-air, peaceful-sounding way that lets your cares dissipate for awhile.
If you listen as GIN LADY washes over you, you’ll pick up some different undertones. None are dramatically obvious but rather, come swimming up to you in the layers of music that is relatively simple yet deep & complete. “Ways To Cross The Sky” (at just short of 6 minutes, the longest track on hand) offers up a mid-paced melodic feel that reminds me a bit of some of the more recent WISHBONE ASH material. “Turn Back” takes an upbeat and insistent chorus and wedges it in your brain for repeated plays. Reasonably short on length and yet driving in its Americana rock, “Mulberry Bend” may be the name of a locale in Manhattan, but here it brings in another element. Can you say “rural NWOBHM?”
Elsewhere, “The Brain” somehow merges a long lost Buck Dharma BÖC guitar melody to classic R.E.M. “You’re A Big Star” channels Exile/Taylor-era STONES and “Tingens Sanna Natur” boasts an ethereal, hook-drenched chorus for the ages.
In all, “Before The Dawn Of Time” isn’t just that lucky #7 album for GIN LADY. It celebrates their signing with Ripple as not only their most surprising effort but also a simply wonderful and listenable record that begs for hitting “repeat.”
-Ray Dorsey
Comments