independant culture
From ye wilde British west emerges Silver Pyre - hailing from a barn in Somerset and bellowing under "the light of George's day". Sedgemoor Recordings proudly pronounce their first release, 'EP 1' with the commanding anthemic track "Sovereign". You could equate this to a Man Man escapade minus the Turkish circus act, if such musicians had the resources to make a video it would undoubtedly be filled with visions of a man atop a billowy hill roaring down to some medieval hamlet.
With such a stark characteristic opening the progression of the 4-track EP is nothing short of remarkable. "Shurton Bars Ammonite" takes our boisterous countryman and forces him into a dreamy electronic catharsis as if silenced by sedative. Sounds of old and reverb of new meld seamlessly; an accompaniment, if you will, to the fossiled shale shores of Somerset gloomily overshadowed by a nearby nuclear power station.
That sedative dose does not wear off; down to level 3 on the Glasgow Coma scale of things. "Filament" echoes a discordant interpretation of pounding waves against barren rock in the starkest of Siler Pyre's offerings. We are all Antonius Block, Death is nearby and "Saline" our epiphany.
G.S.Fawle, in all of his ghostly isolation has succeeded in his attempts to create an archaic masterpiece. Do not miss this one.
Paul Hayes, Indiependant Culture
http://www.indiecult.com/2007-01/silver-pyre-ep-i
Progressive Homestead
First track, "Sovereign" has some inspiration that seems to come from an English/Scottish folkrock experience. We hear a harmonic drone fitting perfectly in harmony with the colours of the voice, with handclaps, harmonica and rather colourful rhythms. There's a live folkrock-dance feeling underneath which is mixed with the deeper drone-experience. The second track, "Shurton Bars Ammonite" also uses an experimental drone mixed with electronic sounds and fine complex percussion ideas, that are developed into very harmonic combinations, based upon the melodic evolutions. The piece develops easily into a rather modern-experimental progressive core. Thoroughly the bass gives pulses to the melody, while the percussion becomes more rock flavoured drumming. The execution of it I'm sure will remind more people of some Krautrock related nature (Can, Faust,..). "Filament" is another rather experimental composition, which consists of a slowly pulsating, experimental but also structural, -almost architectural controlled- evolving drone, as a composition of sounds only. Last track, "Saline" like the first track has another folk association while the starting sounds remind me of an electric hurdy-gurdy, a loop which adds other sounds to it. This rather minimalist background is used for a song that has a more Robert Wyatt like sphere of singing. Once more this uses beautiful combinations of sounds, which slowly emerge as if from a womb/swamp. A promising group.
http://progressive.homestead.com/prog14.html#anchor_153
Tastyfanzine
Isolation can do strange and interesting things to the brain. Silver Pyre aka GS Fawle takes inspiration from the environment and records the results in a barn in Somerset, some of which are quite unique. "Sovereign" kicks off sounding like Elf Power's attempt at an Irish Jig, followed by "Shurton Bers Ammonite" which is Stereolab jamming on the Velvet's "Sister Ray". "Filament", meanwhile, is perhaps where the rural influence is most felt…the sound of an abandoned power station slowly coming back to life. You have to hear it to see what I mean - Will Columbine
http://www.tastyfanzine.org.uk/singles56%20nov06.htm#Silver%20Pyre%20–%20"EP%201
Colin Newman (Wire) best of 2006 review
"there've been people doing smart things with acoustic instruments this year........Silver Pyre's Sovereign combines a kind of bawdy traditional folk with electronic drone".
http://www.evilsponge.org/minions/ColinNewman_2006Lists.htm