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Rating:
What would have happened if Johnny Marr, the retired genius of arpeggio from the Smiths, instead of joining Modest Mouse, had settled down with Don Caballero? I don't dare to think about it, but I would swear that for at least a moment the Pinback would have shivered, feeling the throne of undisputed kings of mathematical pop wobble beneath them. For years now, they have been proposing the same formula: first as Three Mile Pilot, now as Pinback, Rob Crow and Zach Smith have always been playing with rock music, always managing to achieve excellent results. Listen to the latest album "Autumn Of The Seraphs," the first song " From Nothing To Nowhere " is incredible for how it uses different harmonic scales, rapidly changing the rhythm and continually unbalancing the listener. However, what emerges is not a sterile mathematical exercise as one might think, far from it! Pure melody to be enjoyed immediately. The album under review is from 2004, released by Touch & Go, but it doesn't change a bit the impression I had when listening to the latest one published three years later.
Defining Pinback exactly is not simple. Progressive post-rock? Mathematical indie-pop? I don't know. I only know that if you are looking for a band that makes often indigestible post-rock palatable with melodious pop additions, you've found the right match. They are not precisely a traditional rock band but rather experimenters who use the "already heard" to envision new sound horizons, often brighter than those they have found. A bit like what Caribou recently did with "Andorra" and English psychedelic music.
Despite the band's website stating that "Summer in Abaddon" reveals its treasures only after repeated listens, I write this page after just three spins of the album in the player. Astounding! They manage to blend into a single block post-rock inspired progressions and scientific guitar scales, with sinuous and incredibly complex melodic pop arrangements that would make the Electric Light Orchestra pale! The primary stylistic hallmark of our friends is represented by the consistently incisive, powerful, and damn catchy guitar lines and the sinuous, melodious voice with an almost emo edge. "Senders" with its intricate arpeggios, the intriguing "Fortress" with a square progression that then unfolds into a solid harmonic architecture with a thousand facets, the nocturnal "Soaked" enhanced by drops of electronics and goosebump-inducing guitar progressions, the tortoisian "AFK" are just four examples. The album is to be listened to as a whole, even multiple times in a row.
And then they call it indie-rock!
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Non Photo-Blue (03:43)
She's posting all the time, but the boards are down.
It's a burnt-out building.
He's spending all his time on his back,
Staring at the ceiling.
They spend themselves that way.
I'm with that, I'm with them.
You aren't. You are alive, dammit.
Gnawing on the prey,
I think about you some.
Where to put you?
All the backed up data for a raining time.
Insulate a fragile mind.
Capsulize a broken find.
Don't do this man
There's another one off behind
Breaking down the door without warning.
She just ignores the time the boards came down.
It's a numbed out feeling.
He just accepts that pain with a hate mantra.
A spiritual killing.
They just relax that way.
I'm with that, I'm with them.
You aren't. You are alive, dammit.
Crayons past line. Stay after school.
Crossword filled in non-photo blue.
So they'll never find you.
I get the same result.
We get the same effect.
Can't go through this now.
I'm leaving a message,
Stapled on your head.
Don't do this man
There's another one off behind
Breaking down the door without warning.
02 Sender (04:58)
Shoes crack where you walk
Settle down
Inside, outside, amazing
Cut it back
Get in some clean fresh air
Acute angles, divide my
Path that I had lost
Path that I had lost
Acute angles, divide my
Path that I had lost
Path that I had lost
Tongue tied, couldn't talk
Settle down
Inside, outside, amazing
Haven't lost
Haven't cared at all
Acute angles, divide my
Path that I had lost
Path that I had lost
Acute angles, divide my
Path that I had lost
Path that I had lost
And when you see a boat come
in a straight line
You know it's going straight down
And then you feel like a flower sender
Lender, like you
I close my eyes
Nothing to see here
Nothing to see here
Cloud tank, given off
Watered down
Stick side, outside, the razing
Wasn't cool
Wasn't fair at all
Acute angles, divide my
Path that I had lost
Path that I had lost
Acute angles, divide my
Path that I had lost
Path that I had lost
I close my eyes
Nothing to see here
(I close my eyes)
And when you see the big crack in the sunlight
You know it's over somehow
And then a pinhole sky explodes out
Ball of fire
Supernova falls down on you
I close my eyes
Nothing to see here
(Ball of fire
Supernova falls down on you)
I close my eyes
Nothing to see here
I close my eyes
Nothing to see here
03 Syracuse (03:49)
I STEP DOWN INTO SAND
WATER CARRIES US FROM HERE
I'M FIGHTIN' THIS ASSIGNMENT
I'M WISHIN' WE FALL INTO THE WELL
I'M WISHIN' WE FALL INTO THE WORLD.
I MISSED YOUR MONOTUBE?
I MISSED YOU... FAR AWAY...
Whatever the thing that set you up
Set you off and down again.
Until he's spared no reason.
What he doesn't know
Could fit inside a thimble.
04 Bloods on Fire (04:12)
Brain to head. What is that for?
Vein to vein. Torn and Sore.
Carpet so thick and worn.
Blanketed, dark, and warm.
Break the bed, Burn the floor.
Heat to Head. Twisted. Sore.
Accident. Never warned.
Can't explain. Nevermore.
Calm Yourself.
Bloods on fire.
It's not in the spark that's not in your eye.
Like we used to talk.
It's not in the phrase that's not in the language
That we used to talk.
Not in the face, You missed me. There.
It's not in the science that we didn't learn
When we used to talk.
Sit outside, Pen�tance, Just
Just let me know, Please say the words.
I'm alright, what was that sound?
Woke me up, Now you're around.
Pick me up, Drag me around.
Don't forget to breathe now.
Calm yourself.
Bloods on fire.
We all forgot.
We're all lost in Autumn.
It's not in the dead shocks that dropped underneath us
When we used the car.
It's not in the strings we didn't pull to move you around the floor.
Where are you now?
Pacing a faceless maw somewhere vague.
You're not outside. You're not inside. You're not anymore.
Where did you go?
Here's to the pranks we never pulled
And never will.
05 Fortress (04:10)
Too long til fall. Sick summer in bed.
You and a lazy mood.
10 times the fall. Spread, sacked, and I've failed.
Nobody Move.
To far (long) to fall. Sat shiver in bed.
You and a test of will.
Too many fallen, Too many failed.
Nobody Move.
Days with the light off, freezing.
You and I. Uneasy. Livid.
STOP ITS TOO LATE
IM FEELING FRUSTRATED
I SEE NO SIGN OF FORTRESS....
Safe as a cootie wootie with you.
Never pretend the chill.
Too many shadows, Too many sails.
Nobody Move.
Summer is only winter with you.
How can you really feel?
2 of another. None of a pair.
Nobody Move.
Another delay. Too many hassles,
Where do we go? How do we follow?
06 This Red Book (03:56)
And I don’t know how it goes
I’ve found another way though.
Tells us all it knows
I’ve finally caught a deal.
Your face above
Fades out all the reels.
Your face above
Fazes all there is.
Uh oh - There’s a spot in my eye.
Uh oh - There’s a pill I have missed.
The cloves of garlic flow
Like surfing down Pompeii.
I’m messing up your show
You really should have guessed.
Your face above
The only spark I need.
Your face above
If I could reach your throat
Uh oh - I could strangle you all
Uh oh - Did I say that out loud?
Although it passed the mail
It blew a fuse and bailed
It’s too blue to be ours.
And though it passed as red
It’s too far off and best guess
Has it soaked at home.
Uh oh - There’s a spot in my eye
Uh oh - There’s a pill I have missed.
And this little red book knows.
It’s become my every day.
I’ve taped over your show
You really should have guessed
Your face above
The only spark I need.
Your face above
If I could reach your throat
Uh oh - I could strangle you all
Uh oh - Did I say that out loud?
And though the text was fed,
Too obvious, they said
and moved it underground.
Between the lines they met
Like sulphur burns they spread
Too angry to go out.
Light my heard
Make me burn out
Like your name
10 The Yellow Ones (03:36)
I feel my head goin' down again
You disappear from the foreground
I'm unaware which way is down
A major repair is underway
Require a blanket of silence
There's some strange shape in the sky.
A bright light over the horizon.
It's changing direction now.
It's headed towards the village,
Better warn...
Hey! Above you!
Waves about to...
Verified on here. Terrified, aren't you?
Where am I?
Home Ahead. Fall over.
Vein empty.
11 AFK (05:13)
We're too late, we're too late
No one uses the phone anymore
The tracks are wrecked and the odometer's ticking
The edge is pushed and the lines are melting
Too scared to look at what I hear outside
Release
We're too late
Protect, embrace, engulf
Remember, the summer, in Abaddon
Protect, enslave, in love
Remember, the summer, in Abaddon
Way off sides and I'm almost empty
I'm cracked and stripped like a dominoe's crush
Send a tell if you're ever near me
I'm AFK and I can't get by
Release Me
This vessels underway
Secure the rigging
Tack the sails (Headed South) Man the posts
We're headed south into the wind
Protect, embrace, engulf
Remember, the summer, in Abaddon
Protect, enslave, in love
Remember, the summer, in Abaddon
Protect, embrace, engulf (We're Too Late)
Remember, the summer, in Abaddon
Protect, enslave, in love (We're Too Late)
Remember, the summer, in Abaddon
No one hears you fall to the floor
The mirror's broke and the newtonian's clicking
The finds are pressed and the veins are pumping
Too far gone to do more than breathe
Release Me
This vessels underway
Headed South
Miles and miles of telephone poles
Fallen and tossed around
I can't talk to you anymore
And I miss you
And I miss you
Not in a slint way, but I miss you
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