ReadabilityShuteye Unison - Shuteye Unison EP
Shuteye Unison
Shuteye Unison EP
Parks and Records; 2008
The recipe for a decent “post-rock” track is deceptively simple: carefully mix crashing waves of reverb-laden guitars, pounding drums, a reluctance to include lyrics to match the music, and a love for multiple, humongous crescendos in one song; then, let it set for six to seven minutes. If done correctly, out pops the perfect background music for a variety of scenarios: baby-making, burning out, and philosophical conversations come quickly to mind. Personally, I blame Sigur Ros, not because they weren’t the first to effectively combine these elements to critical acclaim, but because they were the first to bring it into the contemporary pop music consciousness. When your music can be found in the same iTunes library alongside that of Jack Johnson, you know that you’ve taken a wrong turn somewhere.
So, how does one actually craft a “post-rock” album that can be discerned from the average Explosions In The Sky wannabe act? Well, if you’re three-piece act Shuteye Unison, you accomplish this by injecting a healthy dose of pop and decent lyrics alongside those layers of guitars, bass, and drums. Their six-song, eponymous debut EP rings in at 31 minutes, giving the band ample time to set up each track’s basic dream-pop pattern before building up to the inevitable grand conclusion. The shimmering, chiming guitars and meditative passages of “Tomorrow’s Five Horizons” provides for a fine introduction to the band’s sound, and “Through Dunes,” with its ability to create the sensation of watching black storm clouds break to reveal a blue sky, is an excellent concluding bookend for the whole project’s atmosphere. While their music isn’t the most complex in their scene, Shuteye Unison is a welcome addition to a genre that’s become a bit tiresome and repetitive in output.
Shuteye Unison
Shuteye Unison EP
Parks and Records; 2008
The recipe for a decent “post-rock” track is deceptively simple: carefully mix crashing waves of reverb-laden guitars, pounding drums, a reluctance to include lyrics to match the music, and a love for multiple, humongous crescendos in one song; then, let it set for six to seven minutes. If done correctly, out pops the perfect background music for a variety of scenarios: baby-making, burning out, and philosophical conversations come quickly to mind. Personally, I blame Sigur Ros, not because they weren’t the first to effectively combine these elements to critical acclaim, but because they were the first to bring it into the contemporary pop music consciousness. When your music can be found in the same iTunes library alongside that of Jack Johnson, you know that you’ve taken a wrong turn somewhere.
So, how does one actually craft a “post-rock” album that can be discerned from the average Explosions In The Sky wannabe act? Well, if you’re three-piece act Shuteye Unison, you accomplish this by injecting a healthy dose of pop and decent lyrics alongside those layers of guitars, bass, and drums. Their six-song, eponymous debut EP rings in at 31 minutes, giving the band ample time to set up each track’s basic dream-pop pattern before building up to the inevitable grand conclusion. The shimmering, chiming guitars and meditative passages of “Tomorrow’s Five Horizons” provides for a fine introduction to the band’s sound, and “Through Dunes,” with its ability to create the sensation of watching black storm clouds break to reveal a blue sky, is an excellent concluding bookend for the whole project’s atmosphere. While their music isn’t the most complex in their scene, Shuteye Unison is a welcome addition to a genre that’s become a bit tiresome and repetitive in output.
September 30th, 2010 07:04
[...] like its big brothers in Shuteye Unison, the guy-girl duo comprising Silian Rail takes up the flag of delicate post-rock, but not before [...]
October 29th, 2010 07:02
[...] expanded its sound in new directions and the music is better for it. When I reviewed the band’s self-titled debut EP a couple of years ago, I talked about how it was an enjoyable sort of dreamy post-rock that, while [...]
November 19th, 2010 18:15
[...] expanded its sound in new directions, and the music is better for it. When I reviewed the band’s self-titled debut EP a couple of years ago, I talked about how it was an enjoyable sort of dreamy post-rock that, while [...]