Gasgiant’s background is particularly vague, but here’s what we know: the band may, or may not, have formed in 1995/1996, maybe even 1991, depending on who you talk to; An Uncertainty Principle is its second record (2005), released six years after the debut, Alexander’s Dark Band (1999, but made up of tracks from the previous four years). Also, at some point Gasgiant played with Mogwai and Broadcast. Ok, so maybe vague doesn’t quite cover it, but you get the idea. Here’s what we know about the music: cavernous, aching soundscapes ebb and flow towards both minimal and punishing climaxes. If you’re familiar with This Is Your Captain Speaking and Destroyalldreamers, heed them as relevant peers. With a wonderfully balanced oeuvre, an astute instrumental philosophy, Gasgiant are virtually unsurpassed in such a burgeoning and expanding genre.

Opening with an ominous silence, An Uncertainty Principle makes no qualms about its reluctance to get anything done with urgency. Instead, “So Sorry” comes and goes with barely a whisper (it’s nearly two minutes long), and it’s only when the prevalent melody from “Loverboy” materializes that you realize that the album has been playing for seven minutes. By the time “Aloha” appears, the record’s aura -- its pungent, shimmering haze -- is so mercilessly embedded in your equilibrium that “Math4stupid,” the Mono-esque-arpeggio-riff-fest that follows, leaves a bewildering impression. And it’s perhaps this facet that resonates so vividly throughout; the shift between the fugal crescendos and the tranquil compositions is at times illuminating.

Although initially vexing, this is Gasgiant's manifesto: reverb-laden artistry = more sentiment than words. It is, ultimately, a wonderful example of narrative art; unrelenting in its simple logic, cunningly played out with the intensity of a musician’s guile and an author’s freedom.

-Alex Bradshaw