The Painted River of Light is the third album from Gayle Ellett & The Electromags, and something of a departure from the direction of the first two releases. Up until now, the music was very much a celebration of the guitar, with minimal effects, and very good they both are, but this time around, Gayle clearly felt a prog itch which needed scratching, and he’s gone for it in a big way.
Gayle Ellett is best known as a founder member of Djam Karet, and they are celebrated for their instrumental prog excursions, and have made numerous albums encompassing many styles, but always with a recognisable fundamental sound. The Painted River of Light is very much in the style of some of those records, and with an array of keyboards providing extra texture and interest. The sounds are right out of the traditional progressive bands of the seventies, but twisted into new shapes and extrapolated into the twenty first century.
The Electromags comprise drum supremo Craig Khan, and bass wizard Mark Cook, who also plays 14 string Warr guitar, and helps with soundscapes. That leaves Gayle Ellett to play around with everything else, and I can tell you he’s been enjoying himself! Whilst there are stacks of keyboards on these tracks, the guitar collection hasn’t been mothballed by any means, and they all combine to make these four compositions journeys following a river through imagined canyons, and the ride is well worth taking. The views are panoramic, breathtaking even. Musically, nothing remains static for long, and although there are just four pieces here, each is made up of different sections which fit together to construct the whole, so mood and tempo changes abound.
The Illuminating Sands of Time opens with mellotron, in a way that clearly announces ‘we’re doing prog this time’, and after this atmospheric opening, we ease into a relaxed rhythm, drums and bass understated, a melody appears on Minimoog, and a guitar comes out of hiding, just in case you’d forgotten that Mr Ellett is principally a guitar player! Then we move to the next phase of the piece, very Camel sounding and quite different from the opening, with choral effect keys, but this soon gives way to a jazzier section upping the tempo with great acoustic guitar flourishes, then electric, then sitar. A Hammond motif slows things down again and Craig performs some lovely drum gymnastics, hammering around his kit and providing the link to the next part which has further drum action and spacey guitar sounds right out of Roye Albrighton’s Nektar songbook! Finally the rhythm kings fade into the background and the track concludes with keys and effects, fading softly away. It’s a fascinating twelve minute trip that seems to fly by, and pretty much sets the template for the way this album unfolds.
You’ll be pleased to learn that I’m not going to forensically describe each piece in this mapped out way, but hopefully it gives you a flavour of what The Electromags are about on this record, and I can’t emphasise enough how different it is to their previous work. The way the band move deftly from quite frantic rocking moments cooking up a storm, to ethereal dream state sections, and Canterbury-esque touches is just great fun to listen to. I’m pretty sure the guys enjoyed making it too, as is obvious from parts of Frequency Modulation. It is very reminiscent of Djam Karet at their best, built around a very simple two note riff, quickly built on with stop/start tricky bits, quirky sitar runs, keyboard flurries, twisting and turning when you least expect. If it sounds a bit mad, maybe it is, but it works! It’s just thrillingly entertaining, and the whole album works in that way.
If there is a prog rule book, Gayle may have paid attention to the kind of instrumentation required to sound authentic, but after that chapter, he’s ripped it up and done his own thing, and the results are great to hear. It really is the type of album I’d been secretly hoping he might make for a few years now, so I’m happy, and I firmly believe that many fans of progressive rock would be similarly impressed if they only give it a listen. Thoroughly recommended!
TRACK LISTING
01. The Illuminating Sands Of Time (12:28)
02. Deep Waters Glow Brightly (14:30)
03. Frequency Modulation (10:39)
04. The Rhodes To Discovery (10:31)
Total Time – 48:08
MUSICIANS
Gayle Ellett – Mellotron, Minimoog, Hammond, Rhodes, Solina, 6 & 12 String Guitars, Sitar Guitar, Bouzouki, Soundscapes & Effects
Mark Cook – Bass, 14 string Warr Guitar, Soundscapes & Effects
Craig Khan – Drums
ADDITIONAL INFO
Record Label: Melodic Revolution Records
Country of Origin: USA
Date of Release: 1st February 2025
LINKS
Gayle Ellett & The Electromags – Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | YouTube
