Gifts From Enola – Loyal Eyes Betrayed the Mind 2LP
The Mylene Sheath
Gifts From Enola are another band on the growing list of instrumental post-rock outfits that have been of great interest to me the past year or so. Hailing from VA, these guys fit nicely with the sound that is becoming a trademark of The Mylene Sheath, yet they offer something a little different too. The music is pretty layered and at times atmospheric, but more often than not the songs will build in tempo and volume to these really powerful crescendos. It’s like the slow buildup going up a roller coaster that leads to the big rush and speedy drop, twisting and turning along the way. The songs take you for a ride by easing you into motion, then putting the pedal to the floor at times. Listening to these songs, when the band really opens up it just makes you want to yell “fuck yeah!”.
Not all the songs follow the same pattern, each song is like a different journey with some taking you there slowly and gently and others rocketing you there at fast speeds. Listening to each song in its entirety ends up being a very satisfying experience and this kind of musical manipulation of the mind is something you can’t really achieve with vocals which is what makes this style of music so unique and appealing to me these days.
This album originally was self-released on CD only by the band in 2006 but now The Mylene Sheath corrected the mistake of it not being released on vinyl. The album is spread over two 45rpm 12″s on colored vinyl and housed in a really nice gatefold sleeve. Whoever mastered it should be commended as it sounds amazing and I can’t imagine the CD version sounding half as good. There are two colored vinyl variations: clear with white/clear with gray haze (limited to 150) and gray/gray (limited to 250). I can’t imagine when the word starts to get out there how good this record is that they will be available too much longer!
