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13th August 2007

GRAYSTAR – A MILLION PIECES

Sometimes I feel that there is just too much music. I could spend all year on myspace.com or youtube.com and still not hear and see all the tracks and videos that are available. There are thousands of new bands and it is hard to keep up with what is happening. As many of the new bands have little to offer, it is a privilege to come across a band which looks good, plays well and performs highly original songs.

Such a band is the Edinburgh-based Graystar, although they are making Liverpool their second home as they have played the Cavern three times this year and also performed live on BBC Radio Merseyside. All the songs on ‘A Million Pieces’ are written by their lead vocalist, Dominic James. Each of them works in its own right and they combine to give the CD an idyllic, coherent feel. As luck would have it, I was playing the CD while reading the recently published, full-length version of the SF classic, ‘Stranger In A Strange Land’ and I thought, ‘This sounds like the soundtrack.’ I know the Man from Mars doesn’t have feelings but ‘Cry No More’ has that space age feel about it and so does ‘Satellites’, especially with its lyrics about radiation pulses.

‘A Million Pieces’ is no quickie album as the tracks have been recorded over the last four years and some of these songs, ‘Life Support’, ‘More Or Less’ and ‘Free’, have been released as singles. Graystar has been gathering attention for their work, being nominated as one of the best unsigned bands in Scotland and also making the indie charts. The fact that they have topped the MP3 Top 100 charts three times surely means that sooner rather than later, they will have a killer hit single.

Although the band is highly original, it is a joy to pick up on their many references. It is surely no coincidence that the opening words of the album, “How does it feel?” echo Bob Dylan’s most famous song, ‘Like A Rolling Stone’. The whimsical feel of ‘Satellites’ reminds of the Beach Boys around the time they recorded ‘Holland’. The opening piano notes on ‘Free’ are a reference to ‘Imagine’ and there is something about the softer side of Neil Young about the track. At different times, I heard the Scissor Sisters, David Gray and Oasis, but again, they share similar references.

The arrangements are spot on as is the production from Dominic and Rick Scott. ‘Cry No More’ is my favourite as I love the way that the different parts, especially Neil Hartley’s drums, enhance what is already a very sensitive song. All the band – Craig Finnie (lead guitar), Tim Dyer (keyboards) and Mark Taylor and John Reynolds (bass) – shine on the album, but they know that they are working to the greater good. At the time of writing, Graystar is a three-piece with Dominic, Craig and Neil.

Graystar knows what it is doing and ‘A Million Pieces’ is a wonderfully soothing and evocative album. I was going to write that Graystar has no gimmicks, but maybe it has. The gimmick is that the band performs excellent songs that are well sung and well played. Just how many other bands do that?

Spencer Leigh
Presenter, BBC Radio Merseyside
August 2007