Customer Reviews

How I Long To Feel That Summer In My Heart

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Gorky's Zygotic Mynci have been unobtrusively producing the sweetest, most melodic,folk/pop music on the planet for quite a while now. To my ears, this is easily their best so far. Wonderful harmonies, boldly romantic lyrics with not a trace of bitterness or irony, and an ensemble sound that recalls The Incredible String Band at their most focused, all work together to make this one of the most musically satisfying albums of the year. Enchanting.

On their seventh release, How I Long to Feel That Summer in My Heart, Welsh neo-psychedelic group Gorky's Zygotic Mynci abandons acid-drenched nightscapes for greener pastures. And I do mean `pastures' - How I Long to Feel... is a gentle idyll in a verdant countryside, simple yet breathtakingly beautiful. Only now that they've arrived does it seem inevitable that this is what they were driving towards all along. These twelve songs, the offspring of the Beach Boys and the Grateful Dead, lilt and shimmer like dew. Or to modernize a sound made of folk styles and pop harmonies, this is what Sigur Ros would sound like if they were stranded on the moors instead of an ice floe. Gorgeous!

The album is virtually a concept piece about memory and nostalgia. Sentimental, but in the best way and very sad at times. But, all the longing is not for nothing. The purity and innocence of the summery, day-dream imagery fills this quiet record with a sense of wonder and soul, and ultimtately, I think, makes it a happy record. Listen to it in the dreariest dead of winter and feel your heart thaw!

Certain longtime Mynci fans are going to bark about how this is a sell-out record. We lovers of indie music are a grumbling, quixotic lot and apt to suspect anything that sounds remotely like a bow to popular tastes... that said, early Mynci albums tended toward a lower-fidelity sound and contained a higher ratio of silly and sometimes experimental bits. I'm one of the reviewers who believes this is for the best--- Mynci are just growing up, and waxing poetic about the lost halcyon days of youth-- but, some will spit fire and say they "lost their edge". To each his/her own. Sounds great to me, though.

I know some of the cynics out there will hate this
record, but I love it; I think it's sublime, it came as
a complete surprise to me. It requires several
repeated listens but then reveals itself. If you like
any of the usual 60's touchstones (syd barrett,
brian wilson, fairport, dead, etc) this is likely to
do it for you. One note: even the songs that at
first sound too sweet (twee) eventually prove themselves
to be wonderful, once heard in proper context.

if you like nick drake, john martyn, the beatles, the beach boys, the byrds, fairport convention, the bats, richard and linda thompson, the grateful dead, belle and sebastian, margo guryan, jonathan richman, super furry animals, plush, the kinks, francoise hardy....then you have to buy this cd. it's make you feel real good. better than a day in ocean grove.

This album has to be GZM's most *beautiful*. Musically, it is soothing, relaxing, peaceful. The lyrics to most of the songs are *sweeter than a lullaby* but never sappy.

Where Does Yer Go Now, Stood On Gold, Christina, Her Hair Hangs Long, and Hodgeston's Hallelujah are my faves.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

Lovely album by this great Welsh export. I certainly liked this one more than "Blue Trees". It's so whimsical and beautiful, it takes you to another world. Their songs can be cute and folky while incredibly moving. They've definitely grown up. As for selling out, I felt not one iota of that when I kick back and enjoy the nostalgia. This is the kind of CD I don't care how much it costs; it's worth every penny.

Class tunes. Gorky's have always had class tunes. They've chilled a wee bit on this record but the melodies have got stronger. The title track and Christina stand out. The best band from Wales.

Yay! This album is so good. But it's also the first and only Gorky's album I have purchased. It is certainly very idyllic and pensive. Euros (the singer) has such a high, but soothing voice. And when it cracks, it does so in a nice way (not like the singer in Dashboard Confessional). Richard James, the lead guitarist got to sing too- he was the main singer on the single Stood on Gold. The band is quite talented. They all play more than 25 instruments. And they do it so darn well. As for songs, Christina is the most groundbreaking. It's like three songs into one. The song is actually about a crazed fan murdering his object of obsession. But you would have never known, except for the "I'm coming out to shoot you the sooner or better" line. That kind of sticks out, like Last Train ("I'm going to buy a gun, shoot everything, everyone") from Travis' latest, but that's another story.
Honeymoon with You and Her Hair Hangs Long are similar in that they are the most upbeat songs on the disk. I personally think they were added as "comic relief" to a pretty focused album.
Star tracks:
1. Where does yer go now?
3. Stood on Gold
4. Dead-Aid : very very simple song w/ few instruments, it grows on you
5. Can Megan : cool octave singing, I thought the guy was Euros but it was actually a guest singer, Norman Blake
6. Christina
7. Easy Love
8. Blue Skies
10. How I Long : my favorite, it's repetitive, but the guitar duet at the end is heavenly
12. Hodgeston's Hallelujah : intense lyrics, Beatle-ish sounding
one last note: Megan Childs has really mastered the art of playing violin in a band, and she blends in perfectly. Good work, GZM!!!

this one here is super-produced sounding, which has its ups and downs, pros and cons. i like the expansive atmosphere it gives the band--it does these songs a great service, allows them breathing room--but i miss the living room folksiness of the earlier stuff.

it's a beautiful album, longer than spanish dance troupe and the blue trees by a long shot, but perhaps not quite as endearing. regardless, this band is inching its way towards my top ten...i already consider them the biggest musical discovery for me so far this year.