Post Rock, where’s it going? I ask the question after listening to this album by The Ascent Of Everest because it’s a rerelease and remaster of a recording from 2006 and I can’t quite work out why they’ve bothered. Whilst it is an enormously accomplished album, the 5 tracks blend seamlessly, each ebbing and flowing with glorious crescendos following peaceful troughs, it brings very little that is new to the table so are they just trying to cash in on the relative ‘success’ of Post Rock over the last few years or do they genuinely believe they are contributing something new to the oeuvre? This is frustration that I have with much of Post Rock of late.
Since GYBE and Mogwai laid down the template a decade or so ago; quiet, loud, quiet, quiet, loud repeat ad infinatum, many bands have come and gone without changing these fundamentals to any great degree. Arguably, Explosions and Mono have contributed the most in terms of refining the process but even they have not really changed the essential pattern.
That said, Ascent of Everest do their best to enliven things. Their use of violin and especially cello is creative and lends the entire proceedings a symphonic quality that is reiterated by the bands use of motif and progressive development throughout. Each track rises and falls and rises again, taking the listener on a journey through a landscape that is reflective of modern life.
Standout tracks ‘As The City Burned...’ and ‘If I could Move Mountains...’ are exceptional additions to the Post Rock cannon, the former using the cello, piano and barely audible vocal to generate and atmosphere of genuine menace and the latter, actually a piece in three movements, injects some wonderfully emotive guitar playing in to the mix. The one track that doesn’t quite sit comfortably in all this is ‘A Threnody (For The Victims Of November 2nd)’ which back in 2006 after the last American elections must have been a piece strong in meaning and relevance, however as we now approach the dying days of the Bush administration and the world looks with optimism to Barack Obama, the song seems strangely dated and out of context.
Ultimately, it is undoubtedly an enjoyable listen but does little to address the question I originally posited or add much that is new to a genre that is becoming increasingly formulaic.
Top Tracks: 'As The City Burned...', 'If I Could Move Mountains...'.
Released 30/06/2008 on Shelsmusic