Glider's debut effort, compiled from a variety of sessions due to continuing instability in the drumming department, still holds together remarkably well as a balance between a post-shoegaze tinge on the one hand and the moodier epic swell of post-punk on the other. It's little surprise as a result that the opening song "Shortly After Two" has a brooding, monumental swell calling to mind prime Chameleons, for instance, choppy skybound guitar riffs set aside growling bass lines. But the cut to rhythmless ambience, feedback acting almost as a siren, leading into the following song "Twilight" gives a better sense as to the potential range of One Day at a Time as a whole. The heavy echo and digital delay-ridden cascade of songs like "Can You See Them?" and "Borderline" demonstrate the continued influence of early Slowdive for a new generation of bands, while the polite glitch/drum loop on "The Processional," if only a gentle touch, suggests more recent sonic developments in turn. Singing for the most part is eschewed on the album -- not a bad decision in the end, for while the understated performances on songs like "Over the Ocean" aren't unwelcome, they almost seem like intrusions into the album's overall mood, the entrancing blend of sound and voice on "Stairwell" aside. (The song titles are a bit of a different matter -- if anything, some develop a running theme, thus "Dreams Only Go So Far" and "Where Have All Your Dreams Gone?") Key members Rory Carruthers and Brian Evans make for an excellent partnership on guitar and bass. In the end what's especially nice about Glider is that, in a world of post-Mogwai/Godspeed/Sigur Rós "widescreen" rock, they reach back to older roots while still having an energy and power that suits the present.
© Ned Raggett /TiVo