2. Even Numbers
3. What I Can Manage
4. Loud and Clear
5. These Points Balance
6. Young and Old
7. We'll Lean That Way Forever
8. Lessening </td></tr></table></td></tr><tr><td colspan=2><table width=100% border=0 cellpadding=5 cellspacing=1 bgcolor=#D2D0DF><tr><td width=100%>Comentarios:</td></tr></table><table width=100% border=0 cellpadding=5 cellspacing=1 bgcolor=C7C4D6><tr><td width=100%>This four piece Richmond band exhibits a talent and grace well beyond their years. After the release of two stellar EP's, Gregor Samsa delivers their much anticipated debut full length. 55:12 is an eight song journey submerged in dreamy, multi-layered atmospherics. The band blurs the lines of ambient and indie, from heavy and dark one moment to hushed and serene the next, all while angelic guy/girl vocals drift overhead. Gregor Samsa is Champ Bennett, Nikki King, Jason Laferrera and Billy Bennett.
The album was tracked at the Recorditorium in Richmond , engineered by Jason Laferrera and produced by Gregor Samsa. The mix was done by Brian Paulson (Slint, Wilco, Beck). ... The Kora Records Review
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For those familiar with Kafka’s quintessential romp in the existential, Gregor Samsa’s name may be enough to reveal that their debut 55:12, with its trancey-cinematic acoustica, is a challenging listen not made for those needing lyrical hooks or flowery CD jackets. Listening to the record and reading that the band hails from Richmond instantly catapulted my mind into the low, dense, and dreary winter time forests of the South/South East – bear in mind I live in Seattle so my imaginings are highly romanticized – circa Jim Jarmusch’s Down By Law.
Tenuously serene, overly vacuous mindscapes are the artistic currency of Gregor Samsa. Comparisons have been made to Mogwai, but the only sound I could responsibly cite would be M83’s 2005 release Before the Dawn Heals Us. Though M83 is thicker and synth-heavy, both tease the mind with seeping layers of cinematic ambience, seldom resolving into conventional melody and harmonic interaction.
The music on 55:12 stretches out to form a menacing swath of organic delicate noise with guitar play loosely above tones at times not quite recognizable. The sound rarely becomes comfortably full or upbeat except for a few bars on "Even Numbers". Usually the tone is stark or thin, which will no doubt lead some to conclude that the record lacks "soul", something I can’t totally disagree with.
Lyrically, only the final track, "Lessening", with its mention of slitting wrists stood out to me and it didn’t make me sorry that lyrics weren’t included within the liner notes. Although the group’s name may bring literacy to mind, Gregor Samsa is clearly no Colin Meloy side project. Wispy and barely audible chorus and verse become lost in the strata of sonic meanderings as both male and female voices float just above mists of slowly pulsing snares and guitars.
Listen to the record if you like forests of discarded ambience and wet tones of various anachronistic origins. For me, 55:12, like The Metamorphosis, is about the sterility of the mind’s tremendous solitude. The illusive vocals and drawn out, almost agonizingly simple phrasing lead me into an acoustic world, painfully beautiful and curiously difficult to understand. ... The Philler Review</td></tr></table></td></tr></table>
En España el disco se podrá conseguir a través de http://www.moonpalacerecords.com/


