As the song goes, "California knows how to party!" and as natives of that very state, Gram Rabbit almost certainly know how to conduct a right rave up at the best of times, even if the theme of said event may take on the form of four-legged, long eared mammals with short, bushy tails. And then there's the band's sound. To describe it in one sentence would be nigh on impossible, let alone one word, except to say that 'Cultivation' is quite possibly the most unexpectedly original record you'll hear all year.

Following on from 2004's 'Music To Start A Cult To', 'Cultivation' is like a discus sized, sugar-coated, dove inscribed pill that can be soothing, irritating, enjoyable, excruciating, joyous, intense, infuriating, relaxing, and ultimately confusing. Most of the time any five of these can be applied to one song, sometimes more. Indeed to get inside the heads of the creators of this record would possibly be a psychiatrist's new gold dream and worst nightmare all rolled into one.

Main vocalist Jesika Von Rabbit looks and sounds like a young Gwen Stefani, while the collage of sounds around her evoke thoughts of an adolescence spent listening to Beefheart, Zappa and 'The White Album', as symphonic sounds collide with psychedelic guitar montages straight out of Haight Asbury. At other times there are strangely concocted effects and samples christened with Ms Von Rabbit's voice effects that sound like Shakespeare's Sister if they'd been exposed to something more pro-creative than the London School of Music & Drama and Dave Stewart's record collection.

As for the songs themselves, the opening mantra that is 'Waiting In The Kountry' sounds like it could have been extracted off the Monkees' 'Head' soundtrack at any point over the past three decades while 'Slopoke' sounds like the hangover session from a 48 hour binge, as Ms Von Rabbit alludes to seeing the Taj Mahal whilst being in the buff!

'Jesus & I' is like a fairytale ride on a hallucinogen fuelled carousel while 'Bloody Bunnies (Superficiality)', a tale about avoiding rabbits in the road whilst driving, is the nearest Gram Rabbit get to the conventional realms of the discotheque, even employing a sample from anarcho-punks Crass' 'Bloody Revolutions' at the finale, which deserves bonus points alone.

'Sorry' is possibly the most commercially accessible track on the record, and wouldn't sound out of place on either Radio 1 or MTV2, with its' electro-rock sound proving vast enough to penetrate and illuminate at least two caverns worth of space.

On the whole though, 'Cultivation' is eerily difficult listening, probably due to the mish-mash of styles throughout the record, and although eclecticism should be applauded at any cost, it is this facet that may prove Gram Rabbit's downfall as they strive to find their own true identities.

3/5
Dom Gourlay

Site - http://www.gramrabbit.com

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