There are albums that convey the feeling of being huge from the first seconds of the first song. I listen to a lot of post-rock records and I love that sensation of sensory rapture that derives from it, yet in recent times I don’t remember an album that completely got me hooked after the first few seconds as did “Left Alone” by Of The Vine, a post-rock/shoegaze quartet from Atlanta, Georgia. The record comes out five years after “East-the-Water” and confirms the excellent qualities already found in the previous work, bringing the proposal to an even higher standard of quality.
It is one of those records that immediately puts the cards on the table with a great track, which for declaration of intent reminded me of “Triumph & Disaster” by We Lost The Sea. The band isn’t afraid of raising the bar too high with the opening track, because they are confident enough and have a lot to tell, knowing exactly how to do it in the minutes that will follow. “Left Alone” welcomes the listener with a painful scream, to which you cannot remain indifferent even if you want, which delegates the piece to a very successful combination of post-metal (especially for the type of guitar riffs) and slow-core. The voice, a new addition for the band, in this track is the protagonist and it is the main element around which cathartic and explosive emotional bombs shake the soul of those who approach listening. To be able to decipher all the influences of the band, this particular track speaks for itself: there are two opposing and totalizing visions which will also develop in the following songs. A furious impetus that grows slowly, supported by the precise and lethal blows of an imposing drumming, and the ethereal delicacy of ambient atmospheres that describe the surreal calm that can be found in a landscape observed in rigorous solitude. In this sense, the artwork speaks for itself: I don’t deny that I got lost in looking at that photo, which depicts a valley immersed in a dreamy atmosphere full of enormous symbolism. The cold blue hues of the sky, presumably at dawn, and the darkness of the valleys below, which will feed on the saving light that will come shortly thereafter.
And it is precisely in these glimmers of light that the greatness of the record resides; the introduction of the vocals in the compositions adds a further layer of emotion, both in the most dramatic and in the softest parts: the resulting atmospheres that derive from it, especially in emotional terms, refer to Sigur Rós and Slowdive (of which the group has also recorded a cover, “Avalyn”, b-side of the single of “Left alone”) coloring the pieces of a remarkable emotional urgency, never an end in itself. One example is “I’m Morissey, I’m dead”, whose title immediately refers to a glorious song by Mogwai (I’m Jim Morrison I’m dead). It’s the longest track on the record, as well as my favorite. In its ten minutes it allows you to savor the spaciousness of the sound proposal, which combines compact and airy drumming with hypnotic riffs that touch every type of pain, healing it through layered and introspective melodic passages in which the voice floats in a dreamlike and suspended atmosphere. When the distortion of the guitars sweeps away everything in the final part, the sound is compact and cohesive and rises in a single flow in which the voice is lost, like an instrument, completely surrounded by the wall of sound.
In the most emotional parts of the album there is an influence of a certain type of emo (American Football, The Appleseed Cast et al.) but the feeling can never be associated with surrender or despair as much as with a deep desire for almost visceral exorcism and the melodic brush strokes entrusted to the guitars act deeply in this sense. Even when the voice hovers singing “Will I ever feel the joy again? I really messed it up this time”, with a subdued and courageous vulnerability, the pain is certainly present but is inserted in an atmosphere so dreamy and meticulously chiseled in phrases of warm and clear guitars that the resulting emotion is tinged with a harmonious sense of hope. The ethereal and wonderful notes of “Exmoore” reveal a luminous sensation of serenity, like when you recover after a deep and overwhelming suffering. The airy reverberation of the guitars brings with it the power of a light observed at the bottom of a tunnel, bigger and bigger, closer and closer, and the resulting crescendo resembles a joyful and all-encompassing awareness that remains in mind for a long time, in a catharsis full of optimism.
It is a solid record on the arrangements and production front but it is all part of the emotions that the band intends to transmit. Between clear sound passages marked by the power of the drums, guitars that first dance in dreamlike atmospheres cradled by the vocals, and then creep into powerful heavier explosive sections with heart-pounding drumming. It’s all here. Nevertheless, one is kidnapped by the atypical structure of the compositions, for which the threshold of attention is always very high: even in the most minimal moments the emotional factor is very high, in which a state of deep contemplation envelops the listener. The transitions between the sections are natural even when they happen quickly, see for example the final track, “Ilfracombe”, in which the voice returns overbearing in the track together with the imaginative and effective patterns of the drums, in a swirling crescendo that wraps the piece of a blanket of cinematic drama. When the song reaches its peak, it turns into the sweetness of a reverberated guitar which contains the true essence of the song. Even where certain passages are reminiscent of parts already contemplated in the post-rock realm, what is striking and truly captivating is the sound quality and dynamic originality entrusted to the songs which seem to breathe a life of their own by alternating different emotions united by a single purpose: the concept of rebirth, and consequential awakening. In other words, embracing the onset of emotions, which can obviously be sudden, without being overwhelmed by them.
It is an album that alternates between variegated vibes, moods, soundscapes. The listener is overwhelmed with devastating emotional roars that leave room for pure post-rock sections which is rife with ineffable beauty. Of The Vine prove to be virtuosos who conjured up an album that nonchalantly walks a tightrope combining both the formulaic and atypical characteristics of post-rock. During these five years the band has managed to explore different sounds and ideas, allowing it to find that subtle balance between experimentation and method. They have given birth to a record that resembles a multifaceted creature, whose hidden glimpses can be observed as fleeting apparitions but it is difficult to observe the whole and it certainly needs repeat plays to ascertain that feeling. The complexity of the musical influences displayed in the 45 minutes of runtime manages to harmoniously cohabitate outbursts to the limits of blackgaze with moving and immersive sections of ambient and cinematic post-rock in its most serene and reassuring version. It’s a record that ultimately embraces the complexity of the human condition, the emotional dichotomies that characterize the human being, the purest joys that arise from the strongest pains, from the survival of clenched teeth, from the tears that dry in the fresh air of a new morning. It is a work that puts the waiting for the light into music and the glimmers that dazzle the view after a saving storm, as well as rebirth and finding oneself deeply after a loss.
(dunk!records, A Thousan Arms 2020)
1. Left Alone
2. I’m Morissey, I’m Dead
3. Messed It Up
4. Exmoore
5. Forelorn
6. Ilfracombe