Anatoly Grinberg & Mark Spybey – The Failure Of Language (Album – Ant-Zen)
Genre/Influences: Experimental, Cinematographic, Neo-Classic, Glitch.
Format: Digital, Vinyl.
Background/Info: “The Failure Of Language” is the third album of Russian experimentalist Anatoly ‘Tokee’ Grinberg and British pioneer Mark Spybey (Dead Voices On Air ao). It also is their third work in less than two years.
Content: Both artists move on exploring Experimental fields, but are still taking care to achieve more accessible, Cinematographic tracks composed with some Neo-Classic elements. The album takes off a rather dreamy way to move on with a strange and ominous Ambient approach. The most Experimental cuts are driving the listener into reminiscences of Glitch. Sometimes intelligent and sometimes feeling as pure improvisation, this album is for sure the most diversified one from the three. The addition of vocals reinforces the accessibility of the album.
+ + + : Tokee and Grinberg achieved a sophisticated work, but are taking care to obtain a very accessible result. It’s complex and sometimes hard to seize, but still revealing impressive, anguishing atmospheres. “The Innocents Song” is a great piece illustrating the chemistry between both protagonists. “The Sun Roars” is something different, but even more noticeable for the Experimental style merged with a pure Cinematographic style. From all albums I’ve heard from this duo this is without a shadow of a doubt their best one!
– – – : Some Experimental passages are harder to endure and I here refer to a track like “Live Fast”.
Conclusion: Anatoly Grinberg and Mark Spybey seem to have reached a point where they’re much more than simply a side-project; together they’re a real band!
Best songs: “The Sun Roars”,“The Innocents Song”, “I Am Lost In The Blinding”.
Rate: (7½).
Artist: www.facebook.com/AGMS2020
Label: www.ant-zen.com / www.facebook.com/antzen.official
About Anatoly Grinberg & Mark Spybey
“The Failure Of Language” is the third album by Russian sound artist Anatoly “Tokee” Grinberg and British vocalist Mark Spybey, best known for Dead Voices On Air. It was produced in 2019 between Moscow and North Yorkshire, with Grinberg handling music, production and programming, and Spybey contributing vocals, strum stick, guitar, bass, piano, organ, clarinet, drums, percussion, trumpet, melodica and harmonica. The album was released on Ant-Zen on 6 November 2020 as act392, mastered by Grinberg with artwork by Stefan Alt.
The duo’s previous album together, “Dust Forbids The Bird To Sing”, was reviewed by Side-Line in August 2020. Grinberg went on to release the solo album “The Dreams And Their Meanings” on Ant-Zen in 2022, followed by collaborations with Andreas Davids and Gwenn Trémorin. Spybey continued the Gnome & Spybey series with Ant-Zen and saw his Dead Voices On Air debut album reissued with extra material in 2022.
Support Side-Line
More people read Side-Line than ever, and there is still no paywall and no advertising. Readers pay for it instead - from $5 a month.
Why we ask
Advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations we have not put up a paywall, and we refuse to add annoying advertising, so we need to ask for your help. Side-Line’s independent journalism takes time, money and hard work to produce, and we do it to push the artists we like, who are equally fighting to survive.
Handled by PayPal.
I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.
