In it, all you hear is the voice Simon Huw Jones and some odd, distantly menacing sound effects coming together into pseudo-music. I suppose it is only fair that after such tumultuous ride, the album needs to calm itself down a little and go for a vocals-and-sound-effects-only cut, “The Bells of St. Plus, it explodes into beautiful emotional shambles midway through. “Bridges” then are of similar pace, but toned down and the bass is on full display again. Certainly a faster cut, but structured like, dare I say, a post-rock song. And no worries, you who doesn’t want the album to turn bluesy, but rather stay in the solemn chamber solitary confinements the first three songs have provided, for “The Sleepers” are here to rescue you. I suppose that it has the potential of tearing you out of the quietness the previous tunes established, but only if you choose to ignore the tearjerking caress of its lovely melody. The latter then changing its tune almost completely come the chorus, becoming musically rapturous, drums a thunder, guitars sounding more like flutes or wailings of women.īut not to worry, energy has not abandoned this place just quite yet, for “Seasons and the Storms” becomes one of the album’s most vibrant and bluesy tracks, just by having drums that are not as rare as with the other songs. Then it repeats on “Hawksmoor and the Savage”, although this cut is by en large even quieter than its predecessor, but about the same as its successor, “Winter Sea”. ‘Your Guess’, the album’s opener, also knows how to explode (subtly) into some sort of chorus, somehow adding a little volume to each instrument and deepening the atmosphere to suddenly feel like a cool midnight swim. I might as well be witnessing a grisly fairy tale, where the bears and fairy folk talk, but with a funny accent. Distanced lead guitar designed only to create the proper atmosphere, swirling and creeping on the background with its howling tones. Softest drumming, rhythmic, no banalities here. Well, might as well try it on for size, woulncha’gree?īass-centric, how usual for a post-punk derivative. Brick over me head, I might as well just have found the one perfect calming record. How peculiar a coincidence that this album checks out all the boxes and I just so happen to be thinking about it all throughout writing these sentences. Oh wait a minute! I didn’t even realise this, when I was writing this review for an album I already had picked out, or when I was pressing the Add a Review button on this band’s profile, but this whole time I was actually talking about Born Into the Waves by And Also the Trees. It probably could also use themes of things generally regarded as pleasant, like other worlds, where all is fair and fine, creeks, forests and grass… So to recap: quieter, but with some instrumental edge and variety, atmospheric and melodic. You can’t go anywhere without the right atmosphere. It needs to have variety of instruments for purposes of intriguing the more technical-minded fellows. It needs to be melodic for pleasantness’ sake. Great, we’re narrowing it down, soon we’ll find some optimal middle ground (spoilers: I’ll settle for this album). But that runs the risk of putting people to sleep (I know this of myself). Next best thing, something ethereal and ambient, which in and of itself is designed to cause as little stress as possible. What could that be? Well, I find the most soothing in gargantuan beauty of black metal, but I doubt that’ll enthral many. However, even in the case of everyone having some preference of their own, there must be something that has the same effect on at least the most amount of people, if not everyone. Granted, it is an individual question, to each their own. So let me go on a limb here and try to explain what ‘absolute serenity’ and ‘perfect calming record’ both mean.
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