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Rating:
Every now and then, amidst this proliferation of three-minute radio-friendly rock tunes, a good old-style guitar-heavy track is necessary, a ride that takes you along for no less than five minutes, gets lodged in your head and sends electrical waves throughout your joints that start moving nervously, eyes closed to chase images emerging from the darkness as your head sways.
If for you a musical piece is something more than just a pleasant tinkling of sounds, an intense experience, then this album must be part of your collection of emotions. Am I gushing too much? Facts are needed to back up what I'm saying! So crank up the volume on your stereo, because more than an hour of sound made up of intertwined and chasing rock guitars, bass and drums calling the charge, singing and sound as indie American as it gets...
Every piece is a little adventure where the speed increases and decreases; the sound opens up, swells, and then explodes, a bit like a horse being tamed or the sea during a tide change. It's all supported by a tremendous and continuous guitar work, finally being played as they should, which turn into a canvas upon which to craft melodies that are torn apart and decomposed, ripped away by the wind of emotions. The initial "Goin' Against Your Mind" sets the tone for the entire work: almost nine minutes where the singing starts only after a long introduction that allows the relentless rhythmic bed to create that cozy environment that will soon be completely unsettled and will literally explode at the six-minute mark, where the guitars will scream and you'll already be far away, where no one can catch you, even though you haven’t moved at all.
"Liar" starts with a lysergic arpeggio into which the bass prominently steps to support the piece, with rich guitar arpeggios creating an ever-full texture: that always "up" drum invites your hands to clap to the beat. "Muscular" is the only adjective that comes to mind to define the rock ballad "Wherever You Go"—a tribute to seventies southern rock that then climbs along very acidic paths. A little further along, here is the radiant "Conventional Wisdom" with the solo that outlines the coordinates of the track, which stops at a brisk tempo, runs, caresses, and then dashes away like a surly child.
"Gone" is a mid-tempo track where the organ contributes to providing the emphasis that will then flow into post-rock lashings, which suddenly rises lyrically. "Mess with me" is an oriental-sounding stoner rock that leaves no escape, with a background chime that painstakingly prepares a bridge in 4/4 that mixes sixties influences with electric acid-folk, totally and absolutely unpredictable from the piece's progression.
Undoubtedly, it is an album that cannot afford a distracted listen due to the length and construction of the tracks: you cannot cut the listening in half, also because you'll surely be captivated and will want to continue the journey. It's very "classic" in its sounds, but with writing and arrangements several notches above current standards.
An extremely important detail: in this album, apart from the initial part of "Conventional Wisdom", there are no catchy melodies.
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
02 Traces (04:42)
Daylight can never really hide what’s alive
I know it's hard sometimes
For you to tell where you end
And where the world begins
You do your best to avoid assimilation
Guess that's the best you can do
And though the parts of it that matter change
All traces disintegrate
At night
My mind's exhausted and
Drained out of thought
And can't get back up
And when you know
How few things there are worth knowing
I suppose anyone who tries could forget
Responding now
To trains that crash before you
Never thought crashing could happen to you
And though the parts of it that matter change
All traces disintegrate
03 Liar (05:11)
I wouldn't be a liar
No i wouldn't be a liar if i told you that
I wouldn't be a liar
When things are all you think of
And plans are all you make
and thoughts are all you dream of
your falls are all you take
look out the world's destroying ya
relax it isn't fair
mother natures disposition
she don't mind she don't care
she don't mind she don't care
And I wouldn't be a liar
No i wouldn't be a liar if I told you that
I wouldn't be a liar
Passing over, passions pour, passing everything
I wouldn't be a liar
No I wouldn't be a liar if I told you that
It takes up all of your life
these decisions you make
it takes up all of a day
making them all
Well outside on the patio
the pianos weeping too
forget about it all for a little while
she don't mind she dont care
she don't mind she don't care
she don't mind she don't care
And I wouldn't be a liar
No I wouldn't be a liar if I told you that
I wouldn't be a liar
You see it seems minor to me
You see it seems minor to me
You see it seems minor to me
You see it seems minor
04 Saturday (02:24)
You waited for Saturday
And waited for my birthday
And most of us probably
Expect even less than that
And I’m glad you’re not like us
And by us I mean everyone in the world who isn’t you
All this time
I thought was mine
Your proximity made
When boredom comes
It won’t be long
Before I sing to you
There’s nothing you can do
There’s nothing you can say
To make my problems go away
Or to make me do the same
From the outside
My ideas
Pour me outside
Bottled feeling
For a mountain
Marbled ceiling
Commence the healing
05 Wherever You Go (06:10)
Murals make it right, how can that explain
Nobody can tell what the hell they’re even saying
No one sees it’s easier to change
No one sleeps and no one stays awake
No one complains
And I’ll find wherever you go
And I’ll help with things you don’t know
And I’ll get you out of the show
And I’ll find wherever you go
It's things you have to give and never come around
There's opportunity to tread instead of drown
Remarks will make the living settle down
They call them markets instead of towns
They like how it sounds
Most of us are wrong, most of us agree
Must have been the wrong message we received
If you gotta choose I've gotta change
And if you've got the truth I've gotta trade
And if you've (got a feud I've got a fade)
My heart will wear you out, yeah
My heart will wear you down, yeah
My heart will wear you down
06 Conventional Wisdom (06:21)
Sometimes life surprises
cause youd never expect it to be that
dangerous disguises
that you never expect to see
some things never change
nothings gonna change that
some things you cant explain
like why we're all embracing conventional wisdom in a world thats just so unconventional
made you turn around
but you never expected to see that
thats what makes that sound
that you never expect to hear
some things never change
some things wanna change that
some things you cant explain
like why we're all embracing conventional wisdom in a world thats just so unconventional
they dont know theyre wrong
but you know that they never can see that
thats what makes them strong
that they know that we'll never see
09 Just a Habit (04:27)
He's more farce than father
he's more of a dog than dogs are
it depends, we're just dots and commas
I'd still say you got one on us
theres not reason for it
dont despise it and don't adore it
it's just a habit
it's just a habit i formed
this ones a super sonic
this one's got too much on it
this ones a freak
this ones for free
theres no reason for it
dont despise and dont adore it
it's just a habit
it's just a habit
10 The Wait (05:00)
You wait
You wait
You wait for summer,
Then you wait for rain
You wait
You wait
You wait for darkness then you wait for day
Yeah, you wait
You wait
You wait
And she said patience, patience, darling
Patience, patience, it will come
You wait
You wait
You wait for August,
Then you wait for May
You wait
You wait
You wait to get up,
Then you wait to play
You wait
You wait
You wait for someone that'll make the waiting worth the wait
You wait
You wait
You wait
And she says patience, patience, darling
Patience, patience, it will come
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By claISdead
Listening to this album inevitably brings a foolish smile to my face.
It's impossible to say no to the following 'Traces'; in the end, it seems like Martsch’s guitar only lacks words.
