I was eager to go home and unwrap this new release from the band known only as Guilford. At the time of Guilford's last release, the sublimely understated "Wrought", the band was not a band, but one man, Greg Olson. Since Wrought, Olson has turned Guilford into a full time band recruiting 9 Volt Superheroes John Plett on bass and Liam Sullivan, who switched from his guitar playing duties in the aforementioned band, to the skins in Guilford. Rounding out the line up was long time Olson collaborator Steven Paul Bongiorno on guitar.

Guilford, the band, plays a slow dirgy brand of guitar based music that can be haunting at times and warm at others. These are songs for introspection and contemplation. "The Graduate" starts off this release with a wall of feedback and guitar noise giving way to some very pretty guitar work. Some great lyrics follow about a woman grappling with addiction. Greg sounds very much like a more restrained Archer Prewitt <link> on this track. Following is "Song About Rain" <MP3> which definitely falls into more of the dirge category. Songs about rain are always a good topic and usually fit very nicely onto a mix CD for rainy days. Next is "First In A Series" which is a shorter acoustic number dealing with the trials of writing and inspiration.

The most dynamically satisfying song on the disc may come in the form of the seven minute "When Blackness". A very somber song tackling the struggles one faces when dealing with depression, When Blackness shows the new Guilford at their finest musically. A total sonic punch in the face. This type of music is very rarely something that I would call heavy, but this song definitely is. Mack truck heavy. We close out the disc with the instrumental "Zombie Apocalypse." A good long instrumental whose payoff is the haunting guitar line that creeps up in the waning seconds of the song. I am all for instrumentals, like them just fine, but the reviewer has a problem with the song order. I personally would have put the song before "When Blackness" almost as a build to the high point of the CD. This is the only thing that keeps "Weak" from being a total masterpiece in my eyes. It's hard to not skip ahead back to The Graduate when Zombie Apocalypse comes on and that ruins the whole complete listen feel.

At thirty minutes plus this is not your typical EP and can definitely be considered a full new Guilford release. And what a release it is. I can only hope a heavy live assault is being planned for this material because these songs are begging for live consumption. Lyrically this album may describe weak behavior but this album could have easily been titled strong just as well.

- Gabe Rollins

Guilford
Weak
(Maiden Voyage)

Rating: 9.5
CD available at www.guilfordmusic.com