The Creation of Enormous Music
Rarely do we music reviewers rush out to buy an album already received gratis, especially when the artist in question is categorized as “progressive rock.” You mean that masturbatory cheese you only hear at Guitar Center with lyrics reminiscent of Magic the Gathering? If newcomers 65daysofstatic are any indication, the genre has made quite a progression since we last cared to notice.A highlight of this year’s SXSW, the band’s visceral emotion that wowed those crowds is projected commensurately in The Destruction of Small Ideas. Absent are the genre’s gratuitous chops and supernatural allusions, replaced by a strikingly human symphony of profound melody and rhythm. The musical dialogue shared among overdriven guitar riffs, poetic keys, chamber instrumentation and glitchy programming communicates so much that one forgets this album is largely instrumental.
Starting off with “When We Were Younger and Better,” no time is wasted kicking into high gear. The eleven tracks that follow unravel like an epic adventure, as The Destruction of Small Ideas is as much a work of acoustic storytelling as it is an album. “Don’t Go To Sorrow” puts on the brakes momentarily before exploding into meticulous rhythmic mayhem. “Lyonesse” offers an ambient respite, suddenly shattered by “The Distant & Mechanised Glow of Eastern European Dance Parties ” which pretty much sounds like the title suggests. Piercing vocals finally enter with the violent closer “The Conspiracy of Seeds,” and we are left with a disturbing calm that can only be quelled by hitting play once again.
The sentiment and power behind the music is as stunning as the musicianship, the velocity and airtight syncopation of The Mars Volta meeting the darkly optimistic introspection of Explosions in the Sky. This combination makes for quite a sonic treat, assuming you accept the challenge, of course.
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