Chronicles Of Gnowt (Vol 1)

“I am only interested in people engaged in a project of self-transformation," Susan Sontag once remarked. Sontag never had the chance to work out how she felt about Gnod, given she sadly left this earthly realm in 2004. Yet Gnod’s now twenty year journey through spiritual and audial exploration has been nothing if not that. Driven by relentless curiosity, magpie irreverence and a fierce countercultural imperative, their project has always refused to acknowledge all or any rules and boundaries, internal or external.The latest adventure of this band may never have been intended to celebrate their two-decade anniversary, but as long-time Gnod member Paddy Shine notes, they don’t always have a lot of say in these matters – “I know that we didn’t plan it this way but perhaps it was always in the plan and we just didn’t know it” he notes cryptically. “I guess what I’m saying is that the Gnod thing seems to have its own energy now and certain things tend to take care of themselves”.This intrepid first instalment of the ‘Chronicles Of Gnowt’ trilogy covers an alarming amount of sonic territory all on its own. Driven as always by the power of repetition as well as Gnod’s alchemical marriage of the maximal and the minimal, this album is imbued with a vivid focus that’s testimony to the chemistry of the sessions, coupled with a detailed and spacious production that brings out the psychedelic sound worlds of the band in vivid colour.