Dusted Reviews Artist: Growing Album: The Sky’s Run Into The Sea Label: Kranky Review date: Aug. 17, 2003

An Inspirational Confrontation

Give me 25 reasons to keep listening to music, and I’ll give you 30 to stop. I go to shows, dance parties, friend’s houses, and as time’s progressed I’ve found that the moments when I’m totally enthralled or rejuvenated by music are stretching further and further apart. For every band that rips off the Ramones, there are ten critics ripping off Lester Bangs shouting the Ramones to the heavens. Maybe it’s age, but I still laugh at lowbrow humor, and I’ve watched the same cartoons since I was 13.

So what to do? Hide under the covers with Fahey, Mingus, Stooges, Bad Brains and the Minutemen and hope everything turns out okay? Start reading and watching more foreign movies? Or just shut up and scream “the ’80s are back” with Fred Schnieder zeal while joining the rest of the fuckwits at the dance?

Olympia, Washington trio Growing offer no remedy for what befalls me, but what they possess can only inspire. On their debut album The Sky’s Run Into the Sea, the trio relies on guitar, bass and electronics to create something that defies words, categorization and listener apathy. In six tracks lasting just under an hour, the group creates wave upon wave of noise and drones, comparable to Sunn O))), but equally reminiscent of the ambient mysticism of Fripp & Eno. For a moment the group takes a guitar lick worthy of Randy Rhodes’ devil horns, only to distill it to its bare acoustic essence. Rows and rows of cymbals cascade against each other to levels of uncharted edginess; guitars crash with drums like whales jumping waves in the Atlantic.

Full of limitless grace, the group’s use of panoramic harmonies, crushing dynamics, and a well-controlled sense of space is an aural skip-bomb sending humdrum indie-sally’s back to their bedrooms. While some may be quick to point out Growing’s predilection for “doom metal”, the group isn’t necessarily high on fire (earth and wind, maybe). But with nary an ironic half-gesture to be found, the group’s debut is the most original piece of wax to drop in a very long time…even if they do blatantly reference the Beatles for a minute.

By Stephen Sowley

Other Reviews of Growing The Soul of the Rainbow and the Harmony of Light His Return Color Wheel Lateral Read More View all articles by Stephen Sowley Find out more about Kranky