I wrote a
review for Gyan’s Superfragilistically

nearly two months ago, and it was scathing. Fresh off the back of a glowing
review in the Sydney Morning Herald, this album was at its peak of yuppie
popularity, no doubt providing the soundtrack to tens (if not hundreds) of
North Shore dinner parties – you know, the kind where no one listens to the
music anyway. I dismissed this album as dull and meandering, and did so with
uncharacteristic venom.

In my bilious
state, I neglected to post this review as I should’ve, and the album slipped my
mind. Rightly called to task on the matter, I re-read my original review with
mounting horror – surely the album wasn’t that
bad! As such, I revisited
Superfragilistically
with more open ears, and am both pleased and ashamed
to admit how wrong I was.

In
retrospect, I can see why I found Superfragilistically
a hard album with which to engage. Hushed,
slow-moving and prone to loose song structures, Gyan does not rush to embrace
the listener with memorable hooks or instantly accessible melodies; few would
come away humming a tune. I dismissed it at this point, foolishly.

Superfragilistically
builds its appeal slowly, demanding that you succumb
to the world within. A heady air of English folk slips into atmospheric
passages like soundtrack excerpts, only to fade back into the Sandy Denny-ish
dream-state Gyan conjures with her breathy vocalising.

The misty air
of Superfragilistically
reflects its
structure, with each song feeling less like a stand-alone piece and more like
phases of a dream, slipping from one to the next as easily and subtly as a
dream develops. Its mysterious, opaque imagery feeds into this, hinting at great
depths just beyond the haze.
Superfragilistically
is not an easy album, but like so many of the
greats, it rewards the attention paid into it.

Review Score: 8/10