album review :: norel "one"

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Norel
"One"

Canandaigua-based Norel’s low key follow up to 2004’s Let Her Burn is an experimental ep entitled, simply One.

Aptly titled, One is exactly that: one piece of music. But even at nine minutes (separated into six movements), it’s probably the most ambitious release from a local artist ever.

As far as Norel is concerned, it’s a big departure (this is probably due to the fact that the album features contributions by only two members of the band). If Let Her Burn was a neatly polished symphony of guitar noise and harmonies, tweaked and (over?) produced to perfection, then One is it’s younger, anti-social evil twin. According to Aaron Sprague, lead singer and guitarist, and of whom One is the obvious brainchild, the only real instrument on the album is an acoustic guitar. The rest of the noises were made using makeshift percussive instruments, and tweaked vocal loops. The result is a quiet, haunting piece of music that seems both shy and submissive as well as exuberant and confident of itself.

And while One is a highly experimental piece of music, it does manage a few shining moments of pop flirtation. The melody of guitar, bells, and voice that travels from Facts & Figures to Ghost in a Jar is primal in a way that makes it easy to relate to, even amidst the chaos. A few moments like this, scattered among the nine minutes, make the piece much more accessible and much easier to absorb.

But much more impressive than the music is the artwork itself. Each CD comes in a sleeve and booklet drawn by Sprague, and each CD is hand painted. This alone is worth the three dollars, without the music. Together, the package is very attractive and priced reasonably.

The music does have its minor flaws (studio effects sometimes border excessive, occasionally appears to be ‘weird for the sake of weird,’ etc.), it’s overall a brilliant example of what local artists can do if they want to step out of the mold, and it’s for sure the most interesting thing a local band has had to offer in a long time.

Our ratings are done on a ten-point scale, and we consider ourselves fairly conservative with our ratings. Five is average, the six to seven range is good, and anything above that is damn near legendary.