Many bands will try to play interesting post-rock; few, however, will be able to succeed. Fortunately for indie rock fans alike one of these bands that is able to keep things technically interesting and at the same time surprise listeners with their diversity is Birmingham, England’s own Epic45. As to the epic part, their music certainly succeeds in this regard with beautiful intertwining melodic melodies that entangle in a graceful ambience of emotion. As to the 45 part, I haven’t a clue on what this specific number references, so for now I’ll skip over this point.
Reckless Engineers, issued on a great little indie label in Canada called Where Are My Records, proves to be a shining moment for the band. Exceptional at articulating the exact emotion and feeling without uttering a word, the band experiments from song to song with various elements such as drones, highly intricate electronics, and soft and repetitive piano, in addition to your standard guitar, guitar, bass, drums, and keyboard arrangements.
Song titles like “August Passed Away Unnoticed”, “A Song For Seasons,” and “A Forlorn Reminder of Better Days” not only demonstrate some of the most beautiful moments on the CD but clearly show the melancholic aesthetics and undertones of the band. These songs are crafted with a spacey ambience meant ideally for dark rooms late at night with the windows wide open, in which a cool breeze blows amidst the midnight sky. The listener comes to the music searching for answers and looking for meaning in their life. Eventually they start developing introspective moments and begin to contemplate various existential questions in their mind. Epic45 is the catalyst, not providing the direct answers but allowing for the kind of environment that facilitates such moments of such startling clarity and insight.
The engineers of this pristine music are anything but restless; the ideas presented on this album are clear-crafted and quite lucid to the listener. There is a point where technical innovation in building meets the metaphysical forces that surround us, at the center of this axis lays Epic45.
1. Do Nothing until You Hear From Me
2. A Song for Seasons
3. August Passed Away Unnoticed
4. Low Tide
5. Remote Canals
6. Like a Crowbar, Humor Separated Us
7. For Painters of Scenery
8. A Forlorn Reminder of Better Days
9. Estuary
10. Shorebound
More about: Epic45
