Album Details

• Artist: Gifts From Enola
• Album: From Fathoms
• Label: Mylene Sheath
• Year of Release: 2009
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2009-11-25

Most bands that try for an epic feel usually shoot themselves in the foot by imaging that to be epic means to self-consciously try and be grander than they are capable. That usually ends in pretention, and limp pomposity. Not so with Gifts From Enola, who make epic music the old fashioned way: by kicking out the jams and letting the power come naturally. "From Fathoms" is a brisk eight song set filled with interwoven guitars, swirling runs that reek of emotional euphoria. This is a record that wins you over with what must have been the sheer joy of the band's making of it.

The slow build-up of songs like "Resurface" and "Weightless Thought" share structural space with the more careening "Melted Wings" and "Thawed Horizon," where the band blends the shoe-gazing overload of The Church with the pounding bottom end of Live. But the band only takes its cues from many influences, it is obvious that they learned quiet a few exciting things about band and life that they want to share the wealth.

"From Fathoms" is a sweaty but comforting slab of majestic rock that stays majestic. This is a record full of peaks and very few missteps, filled with urgent atmospherics and a huge heart.

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