Tower of Silence by Anubis (Bird's Robe 2011)
A strong example of Australian progressive rock that wears its influences on its sleeve
Tracklist:
1. The Passing Bell (Part I- VI) 17:08
2. Archway of Tears 05:44
3. This Final Resting Place 08:27
4. A Tower of Silence 09:56
5. Weeping Willow 02:43
6. And I Wait for my World to End 05:15
7. The Holy Innocent 11:45
8. All That Is... 11:13
Lineup:
Robert James Moulding: vocals, percussion, additional guitar
David Eaton: Hammond Organ, Farfisa Organ, Moog Synthesizer, piano and electric piano, string machine, mellotron, harpsichord, synthesizers, bass pedals, 12-string guitar and vocals
Douglas Skene: electric guitar, 7 string electric guitar, 12-string guitar, acoustic guitar and vocals
Dean Bennison: electric Guitar, slide Guitar, 12-string acoustic guitar, acoustic guitar, percussion and vocals
Nick Antoinette: bass Guitar, vocals
Steven Eaton: drums, percussion and vocals
Martyn Cook: saxophone and flute
Rebecca Bennison and Katrina Shaw: vocals
Produced by Dean Bennison
Co-Produced by David Eaton and Robert Moulding
Mastered by Reece Tunbridge
Before the internet and in my ignorance, I wondered if there were any Australian progressive rock bands. As it turns out, there are quite a few of them. Although a relatively new band, formed in 2004, Anubis are predominantly neo-progressive, but with a number of Australian-isms. They also tend to use traditional instruments (Moog synthesizer, mellotron, Hammond organ, flute and saxophone among others). Towering Silence is a concept album in that the lyrics tell the story of an 11 year old girl who lived and died in a workhouse in England in the early 19th century. I incorrectly first took them to be about the moving of the Aboriginals from their land, but there are ambiguities . . . According to the Bandcamp description, 'A group of teens, trespassing in the abandoned buildings play seance in one of the abandoned wards, leading to the apparition of the girl, who proceeds to recount her life, death, and her inability to pass on to any form of afterlife. The album functions as a metaphor for any kind of entrapment, be it depression, loss or terminal illness. The theme of being caught between two places, within the unknown, is the central conceit. On the way, the album tackles alienation, social division between the rich and the poor and even the very concept of afterlife.'
The opening track, The Passing Bell, is a 17 minute epic and is probably the most successful on the album. Divided into six parts, I-VI, The Passing Bell Part I, an instrumental, begins in time honoured style with David Eaton's mellotron solo, followed by the band in a complex time signature (Pt I Instrumental), before the It Bites-style vocal passage, via early Yes, of Part II. A part of the vocal is a bit echo-y and shambolic, typical of antipodean bands from the late seventies and early eighties. The despairing lyrics of Part II, 'You broke me down just like a rose/ Through winter chills and harshest snow,' are made all the more morose by the ponderous rhythm and tubular (passing) bell of Part III. Nevertheless, Part III daringly contrasts a delicate harpsichord instrumental passage with a dissonant guitar solo. The chorus is repeated throughout the song and the early, strange, time signature returns for Part IV. The penultimate part, V, begins with a lengthy instrumental passage of sustained synthesizer notes of the Pink Floyd kind (Signs of Life from A Momentary Lapse of Reason), overlaid with stark piano notes. At the end of The Passing Bell, Part VI, another instrumental, has a David Gilmour-style guitar solo of mellifluous rising notes, metamorphosing into that rasping motorised Floyd guitar sound. In between are the guitarists' own melodic touches, showing Douglas Skene and Dean Bennison are unquestionably talented players, and a military snare pattern from a drummer, Steven Eaton, who is often unorthodox. Ethnic voices, of the Adiemus/Moby sort, appear at the close but are fairly sparse and therefore quite effective.
Second track, Archway of Tears, although much shorter at under six minutes, has many of the previous elements of mellotron, harpsichord and melancholy lyrics, 'Bruised and Bent upon my knees,/ I hope and pray for happiness,/ It won't come for me.' However there are added bouncing drums and an original guitar solo. The Final Resting Place is more of the same, although the first mainly vocal part, over an Ian Mosley 'Punch and Judy' drum sound, is over long, until a sudden fast drums and guitar passage ushers in a progressive rock melange (of Wishbone Ash, Pink Floyd, Tangerine Dream) to rescue the track from ignominy. The title track is emotively sung in multi-part harmonies by various members of the group, particularly Robert James Moulding who sounds a bit like David Gates of Bread. The mid-passage instrumental section of guitar with saxophone and guitar with keyboards, could be from Floyd's Echoes and Dark Side of the Moon respectively, but the inevitable instrumental second half of huge guitar solo over jaunty cymbals and ever reliable keyboards is fantastic. Every time I hear this solo, it makes me sit up and listen.
Weeping Willow is a short acoustic, almost folk music piece. And I Wait for My World to End opens with a bright guitar motif, which reappears later, and a more upbeat rhythm, but the title betrays the dispiriting lyric, 'We pray we can take to the stars/ Find our way out when we no longer breathe'. There are Pink Floyd megaphone vocals (Waiting for the Worms from The Wall) and some excellent bass playing from Nick Antoinette (also reminiscent of Roger Waters' lingering bass lines on Sheep from Animals). Rain and ticking clock effects mark the transition between songs before the Echoes-like keyboard intro of The Holy Innocent, which adds more Gilmour guitar and Richard Wright organ over its own chiming piano. Even a Dick Parry-sounding sax solo is added, although the rousing backing vocals are not quite from The Great Gig in the Sky. As effective as the influence of Pink Floyd is on this album, there is a danger that it is becoming overused. Nor is final track, All That Is, with its Crowded House vocal feel, immune to the Floyd guitar, keyboards and harmonised vocals (Toni Tennille and Bruce Johnston's Beach Boys pastiche on The Wall).
Admittedly, it would be difficult to write songs about a life time spent in the workhouse and make it uplifting, but I found these dispiriting when I took the time to listen to them. If the lyrics are ignored, the album has a more sprightly feel. Give me Jon Anderson's nonsensical but positive outlook any time. Furthermore, I am not sure how some of the lyrics, the ethnic voices and artwork fit into the album's concept of a Victorian workhouse, appearing more Australian, with their aboriginal and desert imagery. The band reminds me of Mostly Autumn with their overt reproduction of the 'Pink Floyd sound', defined by guitar, organ and echo-y drums, but without the Celtic elements. They also bring to mind the Victorian romanticism of Big Big Train.
As good as Anubis, Mostly Autumn and others may be, if I want to hear Pink Floyd, then I will play my Floyd albums. By comparison Meddle, Dark Side and Animals are punchier and funkier, because Waters and company did it first and best. In Towering Silence, Anubis have recorded one of the better neo albums, but I would like to hear them with less Pink Floyd touches and more of their own input. There is something endearing about bands who make albums in a British/ American style, but who are geographically isolated, in this case in the southern hemisphere, which leads them to produce something with an added dimension. Anubis could yet be a convincing example.