Search - The Jigsaw Seen :: Gifted

With their third album in two years, The Jigsaw Seen are back with a new one to add to their artistically ambitious canon. The Jigsaw Seen goes right for the gut as Open Up The Box Pandora kicks off the proceedings with the proto-garage crunch of Jonathan Lea's tremolo guitar. Teddy Freese pounds out the gospel according to Bo Diddley, while Tom Currier's bass weaves its way along, most inventively. As the mysterious contents of Pandora's box are about to be unleashed on the world, Dennis Davison conjures up a primal harmonica wail to bring the opening declaration to its exciting conclusion. The olde tymey futurism of Myth Of The Season adds a new wrinkle to the band's arsenal of sound-color. Spooky piano/guitar interplay combine with shaky vibes and eerie Chamberlin to create the new sound of atheism. Dennis delivers a tearjerker vocal in 6/8 time on Christmas Ain't For Christians (Anymore). The song tells the tale of a bitter old man on his deathbed, angry at a world that he no longer understands. The mood is lightened considerably as Couples Skate gracefully glides its way around the rink in counter-clockwise fashion. The icy groove of the Rhythm Ace takes this wordless track into Low-era Bowie terrain. Speaking of Bowie, the theoretical side closer is wrapped up with Sell Me A Coat, a song that first appeared on his debut album. This version owes much more to Mick Ronson than Anthony Newley.The volume is turned down but the emotion is turned up noticeably with Hag Of The Barren Trees, the album's literal and figurative centerpiece. It's a six-minute epic that the listener will not soon forget. The bubble/glam slam of The More You Change is a swift change of direction. Dennis' and Tom's piano figures weave in and out of Jonathan's Bolanesque guitar and Teddy's punchy drum thump. Shards of guitar feedback summon the ghostly chant of Rise Of The Snowflake Children, as Jonathan's mesmerizing riffage morphs back to the song's feedback origins at the two-minute mark. The song is the band's tongue-in-cheek warning of children born from frozen embryos. Next, it's on to the title track. Could this be The Jigsaw Seen's version of good time music? Chamberlin trombones? A strong case could be made for such a claim, if not for the scathing lyric. It's equal parts Ray Davies and Don Rickles. An anti big ending is employed as Dennis literally brings the song's end to an abrupt whisper. The grande finale of Pretend It's Christmas fades in with Jonathan's perfectly picked acoustic guitars. Dennis eases in with his most vulnerable vocal on Gifted. A hurdy gurdy drone on the second verse increases the melancholy quota and then the orchestral outro knocks you for a loop in a pre-felon Spectoresque way. At this point you will realize that you have indeed been Gifted.Gifted was mastered by distinguished recording engineer Peter Mew (The Beatles, Pink Floyd, David Bowie) at Abbey Road Studios in London.