Instant Soundtrack!
By Dave
Riesbeck - 7/3/2000
The title of Matthew Gardner's collection of original film music, "Gray, Rainy, & Grainy" is perhaps the most fitting title I've heard in quite a while. Though the diversity of sound and texture in the 19 tracks on the disc is easily heard, each song embodies a mood that is definitively somber, and conjurers up images best described by words such as gray, rainy, and grainy, among others.
To simply call the music "film music" may be a bit misleading. Though certainly not in the tradition of film scores that can be heard in most high-budget films and Hollywood movies, thinking of or listening to the music as though it were anything remotely related to pop will not lead the listener down the path to the greatest appreciation. The music is most definitely film music, but classifying it any further would most likely due it no justice. Suffice to say that it would probably fit best in the backdrop of a dark, melancholy film - the music is gritty, under produced, spacey, and introspective, and a film with similar characteristics would no doubt be enhanced by the inclusion of some of Gardner's work.
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Perhaps the only negative aspects of "Gray, Rainy, & Grainy" are the same things that give it its life. A self-proclaimed "lo-fi recording", the production at times adds to the mood and effect of the music, and at other times serves only to drown itself out and draw undue attention to the sound quality. Though most assuredly not a basement boom box recording, the listener must have a sizable degree of tolerance for less-than-perfect production if he/she wants to fully enjoy Gardner's music.
"Gray, Rainy, & Grainy" will certainly not be high up on most peoples' list of favorites, but it succeeds greatly in capturing certain moods and textures in an instrumental setting. Nearly impossible to classify or define correctly, it would come as no surprise to hear some of Gardner's work included in an independent film in the future. Until then, we'll have to settle for it on the AMN radio.
If you like what you've heard, contact Matthew Gardner and let him know.
e-mail: mg252295@oak.cats.ohiou.edu
or write: 18688 Yauger
Rd. Mt Vernon, OH 43050
