Explosions In the Sky - All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone (Bella Union)
4/5
By: Sofie Jenkinson
This Texan based gaggle of instrumental genius are well known for building towers upon towers of post-rock, dripping in sensibility. This, their fifth studio album, still brings with it all the charm of previous efforts but is decidedly more understated. Their soft fingers, once again, press gently against your face leaving a feeling of both calm and vigour, but never quite deliver the cold clap to the face that can so often be welcome refreshment in amongst such a heavy instrumental menu.
Post-rock is not an easy animal to tame, and the line it treads is very thin. The gap between mind blowing elegance and grandiose indifference is not huge, but it is there. Explosions in the Sky have and are still capable of great things and many a moment on 'All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone' brings the shine back to those eyes, but these moments are a little few and far between. That said, although the gut-wrenching moments are more limited, there is still a distinct air of poise and grace that floats effortlessly through all the highs and lows of an album full of musical statements (still, tellingly, not one member utters a word on any of the 'songs').
From the meagre shaky and deliberate beginnings of opener 'The Birth and Death of the Day' to the bruising insistence of the tail end, it sets a president for the narrowly pitched highs a lows of quite a gentle album. The gap between the loudest and the quietest of noises being turned down a notch or two but adds an altogether more delicate experience.
The perfect chaotic clash of beauty and realisation happens as life whizzes past your open eyes, like the emerald green hills of the country side do for a train passenger. The progressive rhythm takes you on a journey all of your own, as reflective thoughts intersperse the disorder of the mind. The gentle relief central to ' It's Natural To Be Afraid' illustrates this perfectly, seemingly using the human mind amidst the chaos of this world as its muse, the stunning, gentle and slow plucking of metallic string after string allows for a deep breath before the journey takes off again.
As 'Catastrophe and the Cure' and 'So Long, Lonesome' drift in to tie up another spirit shaking experience, they provide the perfect conclusions to an album of more limited proportions. The first song in question builds up a plump sound as emotive layered multi-instrumentation raises the spirit for the grand finale, the former track, which offers an intricate partnership of soft ivory tones and plush percussion, lending a very final air to an absorbing and deeply satisfying record.
Artists in this article: Explosions In the Sky
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