This album starts off with "War on Torpor", and I actually really love the very ice and cold atmosphere on this one, as well as the very tightly wound guitars and opening synths. This picks up very quickly surprisingly. Do Make Say Think once they get going, always end up being one of the more aggressive and hard hitting Post Rock bands, and this one is no different. The drums here are ridiculous, and every other instrumental is just so tightly wound that it brings in some serious tension. The little details and side instrumentals that the band put in always come off so wonderfully, like that banjo plucking going on within all of this chaos. For me, Post Rock has to be visual, it's like watching a movie with the visuals off, and "War on Torpor" is just that. For a five minute Post Rock track, this is really concise. Do Make Say Think start an idea, flush it out nicely, and end it too, which is really all we can ask for. Up next is "Horripilation", which is a whole less straightforward. The instrumentals towards the beginning are seriously hard to place, and the fact that they're played so damn low doesn't help at all. Now, I can totally dig when Post Rock tracks take their time speeding up, but it has to be done in an interesting way that builds some tension. But the opening to "Horripilation" is some of the most boring few minutes on this entire album. It's all so light, but it's not even pretty or anything, it's just sort of whimsical as one instrumental pops in after another. It takes 5 whole minutes for this track to start going anywhere. Thankfully, those very pounding drums and droning synths in the background really make up for lost time here. Once everything starts coming together, this is all fine and dandy. But I feel like even on the greatest Post Rock record, when there are 5 or so quiet minutes, I've been so much more compelled and interested. Trust me, this track does get better though. The instrumentals here, while they're just standard guitar bass and drums seem so vast and colorful, and the eventual inclusion of the horn section gives this one a real other worldly sense. I just wish those opening minutes were more enjoyable. "A Murder of Thoughts" on the other hand is exactly how you pitch slower Post Rock tracks. Everything about this track is so sluggish, but every distant pained guitar note brings in some serious emotion. This one has such a sense of longing and loneliness to it. I love the very patient drums as well as the very spacious atmosphere. "A Murder of Thoughts" is so serene, and contains some of the most beautiful moments of the entire album, and it was tracks like this that I was honestly worried about going into this album. Mostly because, in the past what has always attracted me to Do Make Say Think's music has been their intensity, not so much their softer tracks. But "A Murder of Thoughts" is really beautiful and well done. Some of the percussion crescendo's in the last two minutes or so are just so powerful as well. Not to mention, all of this build up pays off wonderfully when those horns pop in in the last few moments. This is more like it boys.
When it comes to "Bound" let me tell you, this one gives me the chills every time this one starts up with those tightly wound guitar lines. This one has another elongated intro, but to be honest it works as great buildup. When "Bound" bursts into it's main rhythm, it's such a wonderful moment of Post Rock euphoria that brings me back to some of the early days of Explosions in the Sky. One element I seriously love here, is the synths, it continues to give this one a very other worldly sense to it. Not to mention, those pounding and intense drums are some of the coolest I've heard all year. Post Rock these days is tough, with most bands piling up crescendo after crescendo, but Do Make Say Think here are building up some serious tension and wonderful emotion. To the point where every time one of these very joyous and huge sounding verses break out, I can't help but feel the energy. This track is seriously stunning, and for a Post Rock single it's one of the more memorable I've heard from the genre recently. Not to mention, I love the very stark and cold outro that signals some other sort of creature is heading our way. And that creature most certainly does arrive, with "And Boundless". I love the way "Bound" and "And Boundless" tie together seamlessly. This one starts off in a huge way with the most intense drums and most chaotic passages we've heard so far on the album. In moments like this, it's clear that they haven't lost a single bit of their touch. That constant buzzing sound effect in the back, along with this very tense atmosphere makes this one seriously memorable. Some of the breakdowns are a little cheesy, and remind me of some sort of passage from old cheesy horror movies. However, Do Make Say Think make it work, and it reallyends up sucking me into this atmosphere. Even when this one smooths out into some lighter passages with the drums taking a backseat, the whirlwind of guitars and these very peculiar synths are seriously intriguing. And to top it all off, then we get these seriously gorgeous passages around the four and a half minute mark. The string sections throughout "And Boundless" are near tear jerkingly beautiful, and every instrumental continues to seem so expertly placed. Honestly, I can't remember the last time I actually felt this way listening to a Post Rock album but it pays off. Then we have "Her Eyes On The Horizon", which has an intro that is by far the most unsettling thing we've heard here by far, due to the very warped human voices in the intro. Then we have the instrumentals that pop in that are some of the lightest we've heard so far, with everything else really taking a back seat to some of the very sweet guitar licks. It's very raw sounding, and I do indeed the multiple layered guitars, it gives this one an absolutely massive sound. For a track called "Her Eyes on the Horizon", there certainly is a gigantic sense of longing here, and a very sweet romantic sound as well. I actually would have liked it to just stay with this very stripped back sound and built off of that, because to be honest I'm not really into some of the Saxophone and other Horns that pop in. They take this seriously sweet track and turn it into a much more far out track really quickly. But close to the 5 minute mark this one does start picking back up with some very intense instrumentals once again, and as far as drums go, this album has been nothing but gold. I love the very spacious feel to this one, and just how laid back it sounds even though there are quite a few instrumentals banging around. The entire last two minute's of "Her Eyes On The Horizon" are seriously hypnotic and incredible, what a stunning post rock album.
This album continues with "As Far as the Eye Can See", and right off the bat I'm dying for the nature elements on this one and the lightly plucked instrumentals. This one is certainly quiet but it's actually really stunning, and I love the very jazzy drum performance on this one that give this just enough life. While "As Far as the Eye Can See" is, it's amazing, because as active as the instrumentals are here, Do Make Say Think are still working with so few instrumentals. It's what makes tracks like this stand out. After all of the very intense tracks we've dealt with, this one has just such a meditative and serene feel to it, it's almost necessary to the album. Not to mention, those little details in the animal sound effects seriously do this track wonders. Plus, halfway through some of these sort of Low-Fi breakdown moments are incredibly stunning. It's a totally necessary track and it's a beautiful one. Up next is "Shlomo's Son", and right from this intro I really love the very delicate feeling to this one, this almost comes off like a music box feel. It's a very sweet and slow paced track, and I continue to love the jazzy drums throughout the background. It's a shame that this is literally the shortest track here, and nothing ever really evolves from it. It's pleasant though while it's around, and it's a nice break up from the intensity of other tracks. This album finishes off with "Return, Return Again". Right off the bat, this one has a seriously whimsical sound, and all of these very different and abstract sounding instrumentals break up things nicely. It's a very colorful track, and I'm glad Do Make Say Think are ending off the album on a high note of intensity. "Return, Return Again" has so many layers that it's almost hard to keep track of everything you're hearing. But just when these all over the place instrumentals start getting just a little played out, those very hypnotic and wonderful drums come crashing in and give this track a serious epic feel. It's actually stunning, and as this track rolls on and adds the horn sections and other instrumentals, I can't help but get all caught up in this, it's a wonderful finale.
Rating: 7.9/10
Give A Listen To: “War on Torpor”, “Bound”, “And Boundless”, "Return, Return Again"
Overall: Do Make Say Think after 7 years of silence have come back with an album that I would probably consider my favorite of theirs. It's intense, it's epic, and beautiful when it needs to be. In a time where so many Post Rock icons have been putting out some of their more bland material (I'm still getting over that last Explosions in the Sky album), Do May Say Think have come out with a truly riveting Post Rock album.