Tiny Rebels is a new collection of songs by THE CAIRO GANG. They are about awareness. They show a new economy in the work of The Cairo Gang's leader EMMETT KELLY, conjuring up quick and defined songs un-housed in the shimmering of two burning electric 12-string guitars. The sound of them a swirling desert night sky under which songs call to arms multiple voices that long to be freed from the constraints of song. To be re-blooded in a frenzy of hard hitting drums and bass. All the while set against a wild array of compressed overtones that jangle by the hand of Kelly's inversely delicate touch. In The Cairo Gang's previous efforts The Corner Man and the Bonnie 'Prince' Billy collaboration The Wondershow of the World, Kelly displayed a heaviness in subtlety. The sound of this record is what distinguishes it the most from previous works. Each song has the same instrumentation. Two electric 12-string guitars, bass, and drums, with many voices often double tracked exciting a gorgeous spring reverberation and cut fiercely onto quarter inch tape. Always in the red and fighting for space, the layers are deeply compressed and pulsating, creating an un-ease that fluctuates as if the listener is in a vacuum, pushing and pulling. When cranked, it sounds as if there is music happening beyond the music. #in the abstraction of the guitar sound. In the special recognition of the tape and reverb. The non presence of the drums.. The jagged tremolos.. The Cairo Gang has armed itself well on this record. Turn it up loud and let it wash over you like an ocean.
