Glissando - With Our Eyes Wide Open We March Towards The Burning Sea

The basis of Glissando has always been built around Elly May Irving and Richard Knox. Previous
years have been spent adding and subtracting members, playing shows here and there; some im‐
provised, some not so. The duo have released a number of very limited edition CDR’s on Gizeh and
Loom, and last year gathered together a body of previous work to release ‘Loves Are Like Empires’,
a wonderfully packaged CDR of old recordings, demos and live performances. The path of Glis‐
sando to this point has often been a rocky one and Glissando’s future was thrown into huge
doubtlast year. Some light was found as a support slot to the wonderful Stars of the Lid was of‐
fered at the beautiful Holy Trinity Church in Leeds. This moment was too good to pass and the
show was probably the best of the band’s career to date. A corner was turned and Glissando’s fu‐
ture suddenly looked a damn sight brighter. Plans were made to go and record in Leicester with
Tom Morris (Her Name is Calla) and this period of enlightenment turned out to be ‘With Our Arms
Wide Open We March Towards the Burning Sea’. With help from some beautiful friends, what once
seemed destined for failure now has limitless ambitions. ‘With Our Arms Wide Open We March
Towards the Burning Sea’ is probably best listened to at night., I’m not trying to rule your life or
anything ‐ just a friendly nudge in the right direction. It has a dark, gentle heartbeat that opens up
an atmosphere lost and bleak, but through Elly May’s vocal there is always a sense of wonder, a
thought that something otherworldly is occurring. There is an ambience to the record that throws
it into the vein of some of the Kranky labels releases but it’s more orchestral than that, there’s
more melody and a lyrical content that just seems to suck you in and hold you close. The closing
lines of ‘Floods’ in which Elly May, Richard and Tom Morris (Her Name Is Calla) are all chanting
“You were on fire as they ran to hold the flames, we did not see, so the water never came” is an al‐
bum highlight, backed by Angharad Cooper’s (Held By Hands) soaring violin it has a touch of the
likes of Efterklang to it before fading to a shimmering drone section to finish. Glissando’s previous
comparisons have been to such visionaries as Low and Rachel’s, the later is more apparent in
‘Always the Storm’ which is almost classically based in its mood and ambience. As the record
comes to a close ‘Grekken’ is another highlight as it’s dark tones and an ending of “You made me
kill myself” wrap around you. The added vocal of Dave Martin (iLiKETRAiNS) serves a haunting
purpose and it throws you into an almost dream‐like state before the album closer of ‘Our Flags
Wave and Our Arms Are Around Another’s Shoulder’s’ lulls you back into that comfortable place
again that you know so well.

Be the first to review this record. Best reviewer each month gets £10 off their next order!