65daysofstatic
The Destruction Of Small Ideas

An artwork should be judged absolutely by placing it in the context in which it is born, and usually, without evaluating or knowing the author. What is conveyed unequivocally transcends the person who makes it happen (people pass away, what they have left remains, or rather, can remain). "The Destruction of Small Ideas" is a masterpiece. It matters little that, by their choice, the brilliant figures who brought it to life stay in the background, revealing very little of their personalities.

Are you familiar with previous works, "The Fall of Math" and "One Time For All Time"? Do you like them? Sorry, it is by no means guaranteed that it will be the same for the aforementioned album.

That unmistakable noise vein, imbued with Aphex Twin-inspired electronics, temporarily abdicates, albeit not completely, opening the doors to experimentation and atmospheres that engage and sometimes unsettle. More than once, the typical "slow-crescendo-explosion" scheme, a constant for the English group (Sheffield, to be precise), seems almost to block, emotionally, expressively, and stylistically, according to purists, but it's not the case. The compositions are more mature, thought-out, and aim to create sensations opposite to the past. Aggressiveness, anger, mixed with a (considerable) touch of pathos and existential suffering, do remain, but in the background.

Melancholy, a strong sense of melancholy. That is what emerges from the album. "White Peak/Dark Peak" is the paradigm of the turn, dark electronics, keyboards respond present, tormented they try to climb, but the ascent is ephemeral.

What about "Don't Go Down To Sorrow"? A strong sense of isolation, an internal search that gets lost in the dark channels of the mind. It's interesting because the initial whisper evolves into sounds that, although hard and pounding (great drum work, very "progressive"), maintain a sense of stasis, almost anchored to the bottom, unable to fully reveal themselves. "Primer" is a piece from another time, of clear Mogwai-inspiration, highly detailed and beware, perhaps not immediate, but once all the nuances are caught, of great impact. In short, it delivers, and a lot. "A Failsafe" instead seems to take up the past style, following a metric and musical scheme similar to "Retreat! Retreat!", remaining in fact an exception. Keyboards are very present (never so incisive in an album as a whole), distorted guitars, a drum solo in the final section, accompanied by synths that work wonderfully.

Special mention to the seven minutes of pure electronic experimentation "The Conspiracy of Seeds", filled with elements anything but related, yet, behold, they result homogeneous, linear, perfect. Opening with strings, the drums follow to mark the time, guitars and keyboards come into play, a climax culminating in the most unexpected "scream" (I swear I'm sober...), accompanied by spoken and sung (female) voices, a chilling exchange, that takes the breath away, blurs the vision. Personally, the band's masterpiece: it combines, to all past elements, classy, well-judged, very emotional innovations. A track that terrifies, shatters, tortures like few others, very few if we refer to the post-rock scene. Applause.

A group that, defying the overwhelming mentality of "panem et circenses", offers the public what the public expects from you, manages time and again to astonish, bring innovations, maintaining intact (perhaps increasing) the quality of the product. A great album, in short, hard to place. "Avant-post", if I may coin a neologism.