Post-rock was over before it started. Cocktail music for the indie set could never be a lasting trend. Sure there were a few good bands and some great albums left in the wake, but overall, it was a snooze fest. This is a Process of a Still Life adds to my assertion by creating the most lifeless album of the year.
This is a Process of a Still Life falls into all of the post-rock clichés — call them Silver Mt. Godspeed Explosions in the Pan Am. Their name is way too long and their songs are boring, predictable, and slow. Within the first three seconds of any given song on Light, one can derive where the song is going and when it will reach a resolution (usually about the four-minute mark).
"Horizon/Line" begins the album with a bit of glistening feedback and an electronic drum beat. It meanders for a bit and is penetrated by a few notes of toy piano. Then the guitar starts its single-note jingling. It has the same ding-Ding-ding rhythm that a lot of post-rock songs have. In fact, the track is derivative of songs by Tortoise and Godspeed, which I don't have the time or the patience to look up. Let's just say that it sounds like a bad cover of the songs I'm thinking of.
The slow, reverb-treated single guitar notes of each song hang in the air, letting the keyboard's approximation of a xylophone do the talking. They build into a non-climax of droll snoozing and never fail to non-ignite. Still Life indeed.
On a side note, the band began as a vehicle to add a soundtrack to the members' visual art. Some of the artwork is included in the packaging of the CD and it is arresting. The sublime photographs of natural occurrences appeal to the core of the human soul. Maybe they should keep their day jobs.
1. Horizon/Line
2. All My Blessings Are a Curse
3. Haunted by the Waters
4. Maya
5. Constantly Under Surveillance
6. Light Becomes Movement
7. The Possibility of Flight
8. Structured to Cut
9. Three House Between Planes 1. Horizon/Line
2. All My Blessings Are a Curse
3. Haunted by the Waters
4. Maya
5. Constantly Under Surveillance
6. Light Becomes Movement
7. The Possibility of Flight
8. Structured to Cut
9. Three House Between Planes
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