Oiwa by Greylyng

"......Those hankering for new-aged sea of prettiness diatonic floundering had best hanker elsewhere; this is some dissonant stuff, grating at times, but in a cool way. The instrumentation of sampled percussion, hard and soft synths, and guitars (acoustic and electric) are reminiscent of Two Stoned Kids (yes that really was their name) an overlooked early 80’s improvising electric—folk duo. The thing that sets this off from other ambient recordings is the prevalence of guitar in the arrangements. And it is good to hear the instrument treated as a guitar, and not just another noise source. Multi-sampled layers and loops of spoken word passages swirl eerily in and out of the mix like some sort of post-digital riddle.
Another interesting factor at work is the use of the authentic voice of the hardware, the whirring, pulsing tintinnabulation of the computers hard at work, crunching bytes, binaries and data commands. Like the young experimental composer Nathan Davis (Crawlspace), Greylyng grasp the validity of these sounds as musical fodder for their other worldly collages of creation which are perpetual works in progress.
-Proglydite’s Child - Progressive Ears

......Oiwa stands for a "vengeful, Japanese female ghost", and in actuality is a pretty good title for this odd but likeable album. At times the music is noisy and dissonant, as on "Dead Letters", but on other occasions the guitars sing and keyboards bubble, like on "A Morass of Communication", and this is where things really work. Fans of ambient music will dig the extended "Ruin and I Sleep", a mix of atmospheric textures, space-rock styled guitar work, and eerie prog flavored keyboard work.
.......this is an interesting listen for those who like their prog on the outskirts of the stratosphere.
-Pete Pardo - Sea of Tranquility

.......with an arsenal of electronics and instruments, and one very unique, honest and utterly demented at times muse, the duo set forth to create colorful and engaging electronic music without pretense or trying to regurgitate an established paradigm or style. What happens here is progressive in the real and true sense of that word, this music progresses, changes, evolves and explores.............
.......the duo set up and facilitate an environment where beauty and dissonance not only clash but many times dance together and even somehow eerily merge and give birth to even more interesting sounds. The first two tracks, "Soymerange" and "Tape Loop and The Girl" are some of the best examples of this.
I hate to draw comparisons, but some folks need them. The closest parallel I can draw may be Can or Faust, and NOT because they sound like these 2 pioneering German outfits (believe me, they sound NOTHING like either one!). The only similarity between Greylyng and Can or Faust is their basic CONCEPT of ruthless, shameless experimentation and allowing their creativity to lead them where it will as opposed to being so self-conscious and self-censoring. In other words, it's very ORGANIC electronic music (how's that for an oxymoron?). In other words, the only thing predictable is the unpredictability.
All told, a really cool and wonderful first release from Greylyng and I hope to hear even more and to be as pleasantly surprised as I was with this beautifully off-the-beaten-track platter.
Prog Owl - Progressive Ears

"If you enjoy progressive music that can challenge you, rock you and calm you all in one listen, then Greylyng is worthy of your attention. Greylyng's new record, Oiwa, can appeal to the King Crimson prog-rock crowd as well as fans of the ambient/fusion soundworlds of Steve Roach, Robert Rich and Vidna Obmana. This Connecticut duo is a musical force to be reckoned with."
-Damon Lucibello (Radio host) - The Show with No Name

Greylyng was:
Jeffrey Cedrone
John C. Miller
Stephen Zieminski

Original, experimental rock band interested in creating art.

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