Every now and again, I'll find myself almost engulfed by a glut of releases in the same genre. It can become quite overwhelming, and ultimately, exhausting, and even tedious. It is possible to have too much of a good thing.
Lately, it's been a veritable flood of post-rock I've had to get my ears around. Fortunately, there's a pretty broad spectrum of styles to be found within the parameters of the genre, from the near ambient to the metal-edged and noisy, The Winchester Club's second album falls into the dreamy, expansive bracket, presenting five delicate, textured, guitar-centred instrumental epics that evolve through long, distant drones and build to sweeping crescendos.
Containing five tracks – the majority of which are over the ten-minute mark - from the very first note of the misleadingly aggressively-titled 'Fuck You Buddy' to the title track’s tones on tail - 'Negative Liberty' is a beautifully measured and masterfully arranged work.
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The album's centrepiece - in every sense - is the majestic fifteen-minuter 'R.D. Laing (little chemical straightjackets)' that incorporates snippets of sampled dialogue and builds both in volume and tempo, and as the velocity increases, so does the impact. In its wake, 'The End of History' is quiet and subtle, gentle woodwind breathing through the calm, still air. There's a simmering tension that eventually breaks around the midway point, a sonorous bass breaks through the smooth surface.
The title track takes a step closer to minimalism, its soft tones slowly radiating to the fade, concluding a truly beautiful journey in sound.
The Winchester Club Online
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