Customer Reviews

Open Heart Zoo

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

 

 

It's relatively easy to figure out where Martin Grech is coming from; the Radiohead influence is as clear as day, and "Open Heart Zoo" sounds like one direction that oft-cited band could have taken after "OK Computer." Once you get used to Grech's voice, which in most registers isn't the prettiest of sounds, you might be able to appreciate the gymnastic, hell-bent way he uses it. This is also an album that was clearly the product of countless studio hours; every track has obviously been fussed over, multitracked and stitched together, with the end result in every case sounding more like a collage than a coherent song.

So, to summarize: Radiohead clone, weird but wild voice, crazy-quilt song arrangements. So why do I listen to it so much (to the distraction of my wife, who is immune to its charms)? Is it the last 60 seconds of "Here It Comes," where Grech sounds like a demented qawalli singer, emoting every last ounce of anguish and despair? Is it the earnest self-deprecation and the gorgeous acoustic break of "Push"? Is it the fact that underneath all of the production, all of the mannered vocal weirdness, Grech writes nifty little pop ditties that I find catchy? I don't really know. I do know that if you have any affinity for Bends/OK Computer-era Radiohead, or for Jeff Buckley, you need to at least give this disc a listen. Some more informed or more jaded rock critic somewhere will try to tell me why Grech is lame, why his singing is just a case of someone going way, way overboard, but I won't really hear him, because I'll still have the last echoes of the impossibly high notes Grech hits in "Dali" ringing in my ears...

I have to disagree with one of the earlier reviewers who said that this album was clearly the product of hours and hours in the studio. Having seen the band live twice, I can tell you they sound just the same, except that Martin's voice is even more incredible live, if anything emphasisising his purity of sound and astonishing vocal range.

martin grech will blow your minds, period. True, the radiohead influence may be too out there, but just give it a listen and you won't even care. Oh and the fact that he is 19 years old makes it just plain intimidating. If you dig Martin Grech you should definitely check out MUSE, highly recommended.