The Drift – Memory Drawings
The Drift hail from San Francisco, who recently released Memory Drawings (2008), the follow-up to their debut album, Noumena, which was generally well-received. Memory Drawings is the first I’ve heard of The Drift, but I’m definitely hooked.
The Drift can’t effectively be described to do them much justice, but they’ve definitely got the dub jazz post-rock thing going on. Deep bass lines, elongated trumpets, lingering guitar chords, awesome percussion that mixes with the fusion of jazz and rock. With tunes lasting from just under four minutes to as long as 11, this album definitely brings out a different light in the post rock industry. There are some tracks that stick with the safe style of mainstream post-rock (unchanging guitar, repetitive trumpet melodies, etc.) that actually seem out of place in an album like this (for example, “Lands End” and “Floating Truth”), which is a little disappointing. The album is anchored with its more dub-influenced tunes, such as “If Wishes Were like Horses” and “Smoke Falls.” These tracks provide the listener with more variety in instrumentation, and the rhythmic changes really bring out the band’s influences in clearer light.
While it’s great to not to be typecast into genres, a band will always run the risk of losing out by not being consistent enough. Just to expand on my thought earlier, there are some tunes that just don’t seem to fit in with the album in its entirety. The influences named by the band itself really are not evident, and it ends up just sounding like another nondescript sort of post-rock song. It sort of kills the mood that the album sets you into, probably due to where the song actually stands in the album. The tracks in question really petered out the whole feel of the album, being the last few. In other words, the album started off solid and ended a little crappy.
That being said, I definitely enjoyed the first three quarters of the album. These tracks require a more cerebral experience, which says a lot for ambient rock. That being said, some of the instrumentation gets a little tedious, which is not entirely the band’s fault. While the use of the trumpets are awesome, after awhile I felt like it was included in the instrumentation for the sake of being included. But hey, that’s the risk you run with enjoying post-rock music. It’s more about the tone and mood, and this is achieved by the subtle transition of rhythms and instrumentation.
Overall, this album is pretty solid, exception to the above mentioned. Definitely worth a listen.
The Drift will be playing at the LOLA Festival in London, Ontario, this year in September. For those interested, visit the LOLA Fest website.
MP3:
The Drift – If Wishes Were like Horses
Buy at:
CD Universe/Amazon
Tags: album
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