George Glew has a phenomenal voice that soars. The Gravity EP collects five songs together, under the associated themes of space, gravity, light, astronauts and dreams.
Glew’s soaring voice is important in this respect. It can act like a rocket, defying gravity, much like the way an astronaut would experience freedom: for a short time only.
The title track associates the idea of gravity with those natural everyday things that can weigh a person down. This ‘limiting’ idea is used in contrast to the human spirit, which can only overcome so many battles. Glew sings, “I know you find your way out every time / But it's only so damn much / You can take before you break inside.”
The song Astronaut takes a contrary tact. The subject of the song is already in space, floating above the world of everyday troubles. Glew does not want the responsibility of bringing someone back down to earth. Glew does not want to act like gravity.
At the midpoint of this musical journey, one then faces up to the ugly truth that, “Oh, how it kills me /To know you're alright.” In this new configuration, the laws of the universe seem to have changed along with Glew’s place within it. Now that the subject of his devotion no longer needs him, there is burning resentment.
This metaphorical rocket is falling to earth. Glew cannot call out - there being no sound in space. The song Satellites offers up new possibilities, however. In telecommunications, he can receive what he needs from his beloved. He needs the calming of the seas, he needs to see through the rain.
There is no happy ending. The EP’s last track, Dream Song, ends in dissolution. Glew begins to grasp onto the requirement of self sufficiency: “I'm forgetting how to breathe / While you drift out of reach / And I'm trying to find a meaning.” Needing to get on with the business of everyday living, the search for meaning needs to be placed to one side, so one can remember how to breathe.
Waking up from the spell of an ecstatic love, then from an existential misery, small things start to matter again. The EP tracks this journey, in an impressive way. With each song approaching the same subject matter from a different angle, the collection works like a hermeneutical circle. There is not one truth, or one ultimate perspective. Rather, there are different moments in time and space, experienced differently.
Review by Glenn Robinson
