The vocal melody with its tightly attached harmonic third gives the game away right up front in opening track ‘Crimean War Song’. Gosteleradio listened to lots of Pink Floyd as Great Deeds Against The Dead was being conceived and created. This, in itself, is no big issue. with the resurgence of psychedelia in a rock context over the last few years, they certainly aren’t the only band to have done so. But there is a fairly significant difference between being inspired by and pastiche-ing. I’m not convinced Gosteleradio have quite landed on the right side of that line. As the music drops back and Josh and Ben Strong begin “If I could run towards the sun/that hides behind the verdant hills”, I fully expect the next line to break out as “Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way”, so close is the quotation.
A nod here and there would be OK. But there’s much more than just nodding. ‘Elysian Fields (Ill-Gotten Gains)’ pilfers it’s melodic basis from, of all things, The Beatles’ ‘Please Please Me’, and flows straight into ‘The Centre Cannot Hold/Jilted Bride’ which come close to a virtual remake of Floyd’s ‘Comfortably Numb’, minus the turn of phrase or memorable melody, not to mention the lyricism of Dave Gilmour’s guitar explorations. Sometimes, there’s sonic reminders of other poor man’s Floyd bands like ELO as well. And to then close with ‘On A Fiery Lake’ which steals Dark Side Of The Moon‘s final two tracks’ melodies and choral climax just pushes things right over the edge. There are things to enjoy here though, make no mistake. Lyrically, there’s an interesting contrast created by songs of holocaust, defeat and deep sadness set to peaceful and light musical backings. “Riding back to town through Elysian fields/Ill gotten gains are dragging at my heels/And the wine will flow in the gutters/And I’ll throw my loot to the massing crowd” in the aforementioned jauntiness of ‘Elysian Fields’ is indicative of the kind of Wilfred Owen-esque nature of the lyrical explorations which are, largely, quite successful. And the meandering chord progressions of a track like ‘A Thousand Ships’ certainly keeps you on your toes.
An initial brief listen to Great Deeds Against The Dead had me thinking of mid-90s Sydney icons Drop City but, as I become more accustomed to Gosteleradio’s world with further listening, I found there isn’t the same sense of exploratory playfulness or diversity of influences as Matthew Tow and his accomplices always displayed. And while Gosteleradio have produced a solid album, its main effect on me was to have me looking forward to going and listening to the artists who have already done this stuff in the past and done so with more adventurousness and grandeur. That mostly means Dark Side Of The Moon, which I have enjoyed again in the last few days.
Adrian Elmer
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