Album Review

Four years passed between Glisten‘s attempt to break into the national music industry with 1999‘s Starlight Wishlist and Looking Back..., and props have to be given to a band that went through an unfortunate label situation (they were unceremoniously dropped by a long-defunct company) and still kept their game together. And to self-produce another album in a studio they built themselves - that‘s commitment. One of Texas best and most unrecognized musical exports, Glisten‘s smooth modern rock hooked me five years ago with Starlight‘s top-notch production, affecting vocals and lyrics and tightly-controlled riffery, and Looking Back... continues in that vein while incorporating a lot of experimentalist tendencies. The band has brought in some electronics - songs inflected with electro as opposed to simply dropping in ten- or fifteen-second synth riffs, but make no mistake: Glisten are still a rock band. Their previous work was more American-‘90s-rock in style; their latest has more of an English feel, with Coldplay a distinct influence. Imagine Coldplay merged with Cool Hand Luke, add in electronic trickery and flat-out heaviness liberally injected, and you‘re on the right track. Man, this is good stuff.

Starting with the dreamy atmosphere of ‘The Question‘ (concluded with the fifth track, ‘The Answer‘ - natch), the second song, ‘The Waiting Room‘, itself asks some pointed questions of God before busting into the heavy-as-bricks bridge: "soar high above all the things that I love - the air I breathe is you". This little snippet proves again that ‘heavy‘ doesn‘t mean "downtune and bash it out as hard as you can"; some simple, well-placed chords can induce the snapping of necks as easily as a seven-string pyrotechnic bonanza. The bass also stands out throughout the entire album (particularly the middle portion of ‘Joy And Strength‘), carrying the melody nicely when called upon, while the guitars take off into space. If you‘re into the shoegazing approach of guitar playing, you‘ll dig this record. While the lead vocals are a little more raw on Looking Back... compared to the fine-tuned smoothness of the band‘s first album, they take flight and invite the listener into the worship-type atmosphere Glisten have developed over the years. Dramatic swoops and bridges in the songs lead the listener down some dreamlike path to sonic bliss, and the visual lyrics help add to the experience: "hey, watch me go grey and fall away/hey, watch me turn blue/thin air just won‘t do" (‘Watch Me Go Grey‘). ‘Can We Outshine The Stars‘ is a straight-up-great rock and roll song, exploding with searing, buzzing guitar before settling into an upbeat, rhythmic verse and bridge before that amazing riff comes back to take the chorus into the stratosphere.

>Upon reflection, I don‘t know how well this album would do in the Christian market that Glisten were a part of back in the day; the relentless experimentation doesn‘t necessarily make Looking Back On All of This an easy listen for new fans or folks who like it easily palatable - but if you‘re willing to plunk it in and lose yourself in it, the different strokes applied (the electronics in ‘Under The Sonar‘ and beautiful keys on ‘The King‘, for example) make it quite rewarding. Here‘s hoping the band can maybe find themselves a good label that understands the last line in the thank-yous listed: "and of course our father for constant inspiration to hold the hand of creativity and not embrace the blinding place of this world." Enough said.

[Glisten] [Glisten‘s Very Own Studio!]