Effloresce

As if in answer to the current mania for scrappy garage rock, Manchester's Oceansize deliver a debut album of an immensity to match their name with Effloresce. Immediately, they set out their store, the opening instrumental "I Am the Morning" rising from a pretty tinkling to a quite awesome three-guitar prog-rock crescendo. And then it gets bigger, the multi-faceted "Catalyst" raising the tension with numerous false starts before taking off for real. The following "One Day All This Could Be Yours" is another mind-blitz, its muted, very English harmonies recalling Pink Floyd, while the constantly mutating, 10-minute "Massive Bereavement", with backing vocals courtesy of Claire Lemmon from the criminally under-rated Sidi Bou Said, approaches the spacey sci-fi and crunching metallics of prime-era King Crimson. Amazingly, its power is matched by two other caustic monsters, "You Wish" and "Saturday Morning Breakfast Show".

Though Effloresce is not wholly about the gradual construction of complex space-rock freak-outs--the soft, bassy "Rinsed" and moody piano piece "Unravel" do change the mood--at 75 minutes, it does become a tad indigestible. Then again, any band that figures Andrew Eldritch so prominently in their "thank you" list is bound to go over-the-top. Having climbed so high so quickly, it'll be fascinating to see where Oceansize could possibly go next. --Dominic Wills

Label: Unknown
Studio: Beggars Banquet
Released: 2003-09-29
DVD release date: 2003-09-29
Format: Vinyl