Red Sparowes – Aphorisms EP
It’s been about two years since Red Sparowes released any new material…and now, they present to us their three-track EP, Aphorisms, released in late July of this year.
A couple of changes accompanied this release: one; this EP was actually released through Sargent House and not the band’s regular label Neurot Recordings, and two; one of the members left the band. Josh Graham, lead guitar and one of the founding members, left the band to pursue another musical project. Graham was known for adding that metal “umph” to the band’s music, and to be honest, there may be some truth to that. However, that’s not to say that what separated Red Sparowes from other post-rock bands is now nonexistent…in fact, they are really much the same. I see Aphorisms as a mixture between the two full-length Red Sparowes albums (At the Soundless Dawn (2005) and Every Red Heart Shines Towards the Red Sun (2006)). On one hand, it is dark like the latter album, and on the other hand, variably light in nature.
The EP starts off with “We Left the Apes to Rot, But Find the Fang Grows Within,” much akin to what we know of Red Sparowes—the dense soundscapes, hauntingly beautiful…then the pace changes into a more Soundless Dawn composition: a lighter/less dark tone.
The rest of the EP sort of follows the same way after that. It’s a lot less dark than Every Red Heart, and a little more comparable with mainstream post-rock. However, the band manages to still have that quality that separates itself from the mainstream, and that does have to do with incorporating metal into their genre. The last two tracks, “Error Has Turned Animals Into Men, And to Each the Fold Repeats” and “The Fear is Excruciating, But Therein Lies the Answer” both have the sudden rhythmic shifts about halfway through, and so this becomes something of an expectation. Maybe because it‘s only a three-track EP that makes it tolerable. I actually enjoyed the rhythmic shift of “Error Has Turned Animals Into Men…” as it did have a darker, denser feature to it. The last track, although good, didn’t hit home with me as much as the first two did.
The only thing I didn’t hear on this EP was the band’s normally regular use of the pedal steel guitar. That could be a smart move. Its frequent use might have been of a more haphazard nature, just for the sake of including it into the instrumentation. You’ll be able to hear some pedal steels in the last track, but it’s more filler than focus. The music is still good, and still consistent with the band’s genres.
Overall, this was a pretty good EP. Here’s looking forward to more releases this year.
Red Sparowes – Error Has Turned Animals Into Men, and to Each the Fold Repeats
Tags: EP
. Don’t worry about it.
I just picked this EP up…its really bad ass. I think its the most focused thing they’ve put out so far. The shorter track lengths give their work more urgency than before. Its good see some post-rock music on your blog. I’m not really into most of the poppy stuff here, so I admire the balance of genres.