Pinback
Summer In Abaddon

THE REVIEW

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!