Explosions In The Sky - How Strange, Innocence

Genre rock Publisher Temporary Residence External Links Official Website Temporary Residence

In all of our years on Earth there have been countless wars. And then there are places and examples of nature that have never witnessed war. Listening to Explosion In the Sky is like glimpsing this rich history in all its valor: "Time Stops" is like walking through a forest devoid of life and confrontation until the five minute mark when the snare drums saunter in like a marching band. The song doesn't so much explode as sneak up on you proclaiming battle. In a live setting the first thing that strikes you about the band is how quiet they are; you crane your head toward the stage to hear the gently picked out notes. The second thing that hits you is how loud and magnificent they are. Guitars are raised aloft like weapons. The live experience of the band is one that hasn't ever been conveyed effectively on their records. This re-release of their debut album is no exception.

The band works best on songs like "Magic Hours" where they drone and revel in small motifs for extended sections. While live the explosion of guitars is the bands strongest and most impressive suit, on record it's the sky; the gloriously simple repeated guitar patterns, which are the bands forté. "A Song For Our Fathers" is stuffed with hooks hiding in acoustic guitar and behind an overwhelming bass line. It's probably the bands best effort here, every note imbued with an essence of fragility, until the track is upon you, like a blown out window. The whole thing ebbs and flows with a filmic quality. It's no surprise that the band has recently worked on a movie soundtrack; these first experiments are songs for the background of life. They coax out every surrounding nuance, engage nature with joie de vivre, and whip up a great deal of romance. But while the songs are strong this material often falls flat; the recording is cold and lacks the vitality of much of the bands other work.

How Strange, Innocence is a useful document of the bands early roots and for a band who had only been together for seven months their music was remarkably well formed. In the five years since then they have only come on in leaps and bounds in a genre often maligned for its lack of invention.