How could a band named Grails not attract my attention, at the very least?

Luckily, I like their sound (at least what I’ve heard of it). It’s straight instrumental and rather free-form, featuring various effects both acoustic and electronic. Figuring out what to call that sound is tricky, however. One reviewer from their native Portland a few years back said:

A typical Grails song (if there is such a thing) starts with a loosely strummed guitar, or wind, or ocean tides, and layers are slowly added bit by bit until a pulse of bass and drum-driven groove reveals itself. Plenty of stereo effects and creative mixing ensure that sheets of sound dance in one speaker and out the other. The organic analog tones naturally blend acoustic instruments with vintage synths. Kraut-rock jams culminate in a final hook or epiphany, often stopping before the listeners can nod their red-eyed heads a second time. Guitarist Zak Riles defends this method: “We do not have vocals so we end up trying to figure out the best way to make a song interesting compositionally without blowing our wad.”

On Amazon, reviewers tend to describe them via simile: they’re like Explosions in the Sky, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Santana. (One reviewer of an album there sums up: “a dreary droney, Hawkwind meets Gore sort of dirgedoom vibe. Epic and amazing.” It would probably help if I recognized the Hawkwind/Gore references, but that passage still feels slightly out of my mental reach.)

As for Grails themselves, on their MySpace page, they identify their genre as “soul.” Um, okaaaay…

Two selections for you today. The first is “I Led Three Lives,” from their forthcoming album called Deep Politics. It does remind me of what I called “thought music” in a post a couple years ago.

[Below, click Play button to begin I Led Three Lives. While audio is playing, volume control appears at left — a row of little vertical bars. This clip is 8:49 long.]

Next, an earlier, more acoustic-driven number, “Broken Ballad,” from 2003’s Burden of Hope:

[Below, click Play button to begin Broken Ballad. While audio is playing, volume control appears at left — a row of little vertical bars. This clip is 3:47 long.]

The Grails Web site is here. Note that the trailer for the new album includes no actual music from that album; instead — for reasons unknown (to me) — they’ve chosen as their soundtrack “Feels So Good,” the 1977 hit from jazz-pop flugelhornist Chuck Mangione. Which I honestly don’t mind listening to, but ah, the freedom to make enigmatic artistic decisions…!