How many more reviews of post rock albums can I write that start off with me wondering about the longevity of the genre? There might have been a few too many already. So, instead of once again expressing my astonishment about the fact that the musical equivalent of ruminating lives on and on and on, let’s go straight to reviewing:
The Sea Shall Not Have Them are an instrumental two-piece from Queensland, Australia, who call the coastal town Gold Coast their home. Debris is the band’s second full-length album and comes out almost a decade after the debut Mouth. Eight tracks, totalling a little under 45 minutes, offer an enjoyable listening experience through a melange of ambient music and post rock. Although the music has its unsettling moments, Debris is neither exhausting nor demanding and can therefore be listened to while doing something else.
The band’s close proximity to the sea cannot only be heard in the band name, but also in their music. There is, for example, a constant back and forth in their sound, similar to the movement of waves. You can feel the calm and the easiness that, I assume, come from living in a year-round warm and sunny surfer and holiday paradise, but the music also includes the sea’s inherent dangers and its threatening and grinding qualities. At its best, the ambient/post rock is complemented by a new wave/industrial vibe, originating primarily from a deep, powerful hum, presumably created by a distorted bass guitar. These low, disturbing hums represent the dangers in the otherwise warm and lulling sea of sound.
Title track and album opener Debris sets the mood and draws the listener in with its combination of light and dark sounds. Intriguing and unexpected. Lower The Sky continues in the same vein, but with the addition of vocals. Monotonous and deep, they reinforce the new wave/industrial vibe. The accompanying video highlights the dark side of the sea and offers a contrasting program to the usual summer, sun and fun image of the band’s hometown. Unfortunately, on XYO, the following track, the mood is watered down already, but luckily with Splinters the threatening bass lines return.
Altogether, as the album progresses, the tracks lose character and blend into the output of the myriad of other post rock bands. While the sonic allusions to the sea are upheld throughout the album, the finale of Underneath, for example, sounds as if recorded under water, the initial novelty in sound gets lost. Although by no means bad, Debris, with the exception of three to four songs, does not offer much newness for post rock fans.
(6.5/10 Slavica)
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