Red Sparowes
You know, there’s something about post-rock bands that make me appreciate them a lot more: their nifty song titles. Red Sparowes are notorious for seriously extensive song titles like, “Mechanical Sounds Cascaded Through the City Walls and Everyone Reveled in Their Ignorance” (At the Soundless Dawn, 2005). It’s not just for show, though; the titles actually combine to form an interesting motif of mass extinction events caused by human destruction. In fact, mass extinction of animals seems to be the feature of Red Sparowes’ literary focus; Soundless Dawn conveys the sixth mass extinction event, and Every Red Heart Shines Towards the Red Sun (2006) conveys the Great Sparrow campaign. I must commend this creative facet of theirs; it builds social awareness, something not so commonly found in music today.
Red Sparowes are considered the more “metal” type of post-rock. When I went to see them at El Mocambo, one of the band members told us they have a lot of metal influences. You can definitely hear it in some tunes (“Our Happiest Days Slowly Began to Turn Into Dust”). Their tunes evoke an ethereal-like feeling, and I think it’s deliberate. If you’ve ever seen them live, you’ll know that they like to have visuals while they play—you’ll see random footage of birds flying, moving clouds, swaying grass in a deserted landscape, etc. This imagery in support with the music definitely gave me an airy feeling.
In terms of instrumentation, their use of the pedal steel guitar is what got me into them the most. It just sounds wicked and is probably one of the most neglected instruments out there in the genre. Pedal steels might sound synonymous with country music, but in the post-rock context, it serves as a powerful instrument of rock. “A Message of Avarice Rained Down and Carried Us Away Into False Dreams Of Endless Riches” (Every Red Heart Shines Towards the Red Sun) and “A Brief Moment of Clarity Broke Through the Deafening Hum, But It Was Too Late” (At the Soundless Dawn) are excellent examples of how Red Sparowes uses the pedal steel guitar to its awesome potential.
All in all, Red Sparowes are very delectable, fusing the genre to create an apocalyptic sense to their sound. Very original in my opinion, and very worth checking out.
Red Sparowes – A Brief Moment of Clarity Broke Through the Deafening Hum But It Was Too Late
Wow, thank you for writing about one of my favorite post-rock bands. They certainly fit nicely between post-metal bands like Isis and Jesu. Why we’re on the subject of post-rock, you can check out my list of essential post rock albums on my blog, explaining the ambiguous genre.