This Will Destroy You
Another Language

"After what we've been through, after all I've done, it can't all be for nothing." (Ellie, The Last Of Us).

In the glass, an ultimate sip of whiskey. I drink it, and its woody and acrid taste burns my throat. Outside the window, the sun is now low and enormous, orange. Another day is about to end, another day dies. The city before my eyes seems to be colored by that last reddish light, the shadows appear to be thin ghosts reaching towards the future. But what future? For months now, there's no one left, and the few survivors who still live and hide like me in the city have lost hope of seeing a future. We fight, we do everything to stay alive, not to fall and never rise again. I, alone in this apartment once inhabited by a happy family, have a different weapon for survival. My weapon does not hurt, my weapon does not kill. My weapon is music.

Enchanting and delicate, Another Language by This Will Destroy You is a stunning album. "New Topia" gently leads me through memories of the past, memories of the world before it fell into ruin. Green meadows and clear skies, children's laughter. A carpet of synths that cradle and seem to float in the air like white clouds, a sly drum that explodes with guitars in a crescendo that instills courage and inner strength. The album's strength lies in giving us hope, in providing moments of extreme emotion in nine sublime and aesthetically perfect tracks.

I turn to look at the girl sleeping. She looks like a child, and she is our only hope to bring the world back to how it was before. The only reason I still fight is her, is her life. A girl born after the disaster, after the end of the world. A girl who never saw what was before. I played her "Dustism", with its soft and mellow electronics accompanying the vibrant yet never overwhelming guitars. A classic post-rock track, a classic spectacular journey made of cinematic and scenic images. The soundtrack of peace. She told me she liked the song, that it seemed like the ideal soundtrack for her dreams.

The silence outside is haunting. I've gotten used to it, but sometimes it's scary. The music of This Will Destroy helps me to distract myself, to let my mind wander. I haven't listened to anything else for days. Magnificent and profound tracks like "War Prayer" and "Serpent Mound" have the incredible ability to never tire, and to give me chills every time I listen to them. There's no intention to revolutionize or create the foundations for something new: there's only the desire to give post-rock a new treasure, a new milestone that will remain etched in our memory. The album is cohesive, sincere, powerful. The band has given its all, implementing the sound of their previous two records in a single immense and successful work from which it's difficult to detach.

Once again I wonder if one day all this pain will end. I wonder if our lives, the lives of us survivors, will ever return to what they used to be, that life we miss so much. I wonder when we can stop fighting, stop killing not to be killed, stop walking miles without finding food. How I wish to be free again, to feel light like the piano notes of "The Puritan", a sinuous ambient track with a celestial atmosphere. I wish to sleep peacefully, cradled by the soft, foamy, and refined waves of "Mother Opiate".

In the distance, I hear gunshots. The night is near, and it will be another night of uncertainty and fear. I have to wake her up, we have to take advantage of the darkness to move. Take advantage of the dark not to be seen and advance faster, without being attacked. One bite, and it would be the end, a mistake, and there would be no future for anyone. She opens her eyes, smiles at me. We have to go, I tell her quietly. She nods, shoulders her backpack, and we leave. Her strength surprises me every time. A disarming strength, enclosed in a fourteen-year-old who holds the salvation of the world in her hands. Before setting out for the long walk ahead, I want to finish listening to the This Will Destroy You album. It energizes me, makes me feel good, for its entire duration it distracts and relaxes me. She sits next to me and holds my cold hand. I rejoice in feeling the shoegaze brushstroke of "Invitation" vibrating to the bone. I'm moved when absorbed by the burning melody of "Memory Loss" and the heavy drum that accompanies it. And then there's "God's Teeth", the perfect closure. A finale of electronics, synth, and piano that closes the circle and takes me back to images of children's happiness, to the bright colors of the spring that is no more.

The other language of This Will Destroy You is the universal language of music. A language without words but worth more than a single word. A language that gives hope and joy. A language that moves, that makes us feel good. A language that, even after the end of the world, everyone will understand and love.

Review freely inspired by the video game "The Last Of Us" (Naughty Dog, 2013).