Maximum Unicorn

This album is a major departure for Grüvis Malt in many ways. Compositionally, this is the sound of a band giving up. Whereas before every note and inspiration was debated over and eventually abandoned/altered, now anything was acceptable... The more fleeting or amusing the better. This is probably the closest Grüvis Malt has ever come to honesty. It is a theme album to the fullest (the most 'Maximum' you might say), and lends itself to the widest interpretation of any of GM's work. Production-wise, Gavin tried to take the layered synthetic approach of Traffic Jam and fuse it with the live sound of Simon. To accomplish this, instruments that were usually recorded direct were instead run through amps (keyboards, drum machines, vocals). Acoustic instruments like guitar, bass and drums were treated with plugins rather than rack gear and amplifiers. The recording process began in June, but after a single weekend, the album was not touched for a full six months while each member of the band focused on other things. Eventually Gavin began production on it and with the help of Brendan and Steve brought it to fruition 10 months later. In that time, one track was lost by Soundmill Studios, and three songs were recorded and added to the track listing. Though one of the shortest GM releases to date, Maximum Unicorn traverses the widest musical terrain.