math rock « Rhythm & Booze

8 March, 2012

Maybeshewill-Red Paper Lanterns

Filed under: instrumental,math rock,post rock,Recorded Reviews — Tags: maybeshewill, red paper lanterns — willmunn @ 15:25

Here at Rhythm & Booze, we like nothing better than to start the afternoon with a bit of instrumental post-rock (or math rock if you prefer) and in our opinion there are few better purveyours of such sonic bliss than East Midlands based five-piece Maybeshewill.

Red Paper Lanterns is the latest single to be lifted from the band’s latest and highly acclaimed I Was Here For A Moment Then I Was Gone opus, an album that has received plaudits from the likes of NME, Artrocker and Rocksound among others. The track opens with a slice of shimmering guitar before the band add layers of guitar, drums and even xylophone to create a stunning turn of power. Unlike a number of bands of this ilk, Maybeshewill always manage to weave intricate yet infectious melodies into their expressive instrumentals and Red Paper Lanterns is no exception. The four minute plus track is a stunning example of the band’s almost cinematic post-rock vision.

The single is backed by the equally impressive yet some what more restrained, Rain, a track that opens with delicate piano before the build and explore those sonic soundscapes once more.

If you like inventive, atmospheric and at times explosive instrumentals you’ll love the sound of Red Paper Lanterns and Maybeshewill.

Rhythm & Booze Rating 10

www.maybeshewill.net

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21 February, 2012

We Used To Have Horses-The World Above Us

Filed under: instrumental,math rock,post rock,Recorded Reviews,soundtrack — Tags: we used to have horses — willmunn @ 20:18

Right now if I was asked to recommend one band or artist from my local area, I’d be hard pressed to look beyond the stunning soundscapes of one man project We Used To Have Horses. Niall Jones (also of Rhythm & Booze favourites Inca Hoots) creates stunning, inventive suites of music combining strings, innoative, chiming, blissful cresendoing guitars and subtle rhythms, weaving an intoxicating spell over the listener, who’s drawn into a near trance like state.

Niall seems to be constantly working on a new EP, releasing four to date (in just five months!!), with the latest, The World Above Us being perhaps the most ambitious to date. The latest release is a two part, thirty minute track, slow building epic that opens with soft, subtle instrumentation before gradually building with intricate guitars, lush strings and delicate melodies slowly making way around the eleven minute mark for a stunning bombardment of hard hitting beats and fuzzy stabbing riffs. The second part of The World Above Us is equally as thrilling as Niall lays down layers of intricate guitars and shuffling beats, before pausing to add some expessive yet sparse almost ghostly piano to the mix. As the soundtrack like suite continues guitars, strings and beats soar and dip forming glorius, mesmerising peaks, taking the listener on a stunning flights of discovery.

The We Used To Have Horses project has been described as ambiet math-rock or post rock and sure there are elements of both in the sound that Niall creates but there’s more than that, his visionary music has a more widescreen cinematic feel than that, I could imagine his incredible instrumentals gracing soundtracks, in fact there’s an almost Clint Mansell (soundtrack to Requim For A Dream, etc) feel to parts of Niall’s soundscapes. The music really takes hold and grabs at the attention until you find yourself fully submerged in the bewitching sounds of We Used To Have Horses.

Each of the We Used To Have Horses are available for free download via bandcamp and if you’re a fan of instrumental music, post rock or you want a powerful, emotional thought provoking soundtrack I urge you to download each of these incredible, rewarding releases.