Bright shiny post-rock, that’s what you got right here. Well, okay, once you get past the quiet ballad of “Pre,” which is a nice enough thing, fronted by piano from band member Aroel (it’s a duo; the other guy is Ibo), but it’s when the first guitar break kicks in on “Early Morning” that you get a better sense of the energy in store. It must be said that many of the tracks here follow a similar pattern: establish a melody, quietly, get to pause, blow it wide freakin’ open in an indie-rock frenzy, dial it back down, repeat. Much of the phrasing on guitar and keys also tends to feel like Aroel is using the same basic patterns, with slight changes in riff. Over time, that becomes a bit of a problem—the sameness of structure becomes very apparently, Mind you, when it’s good, it’s very good. I could listen to “Destiny” over and over, with its mix of rough-edged guitar, singing piano lines, and cliff-edge breaks. Aroel hits some serious fast-picking spots on “Nothing’s Ever Good Enough for You” and “Repeat, Replay & Over Again” and shows some metal cred. (That latter track has overdrive and distortion to spare. Love it.) “Jump from the Edge” stays in a quieter indie-rock kind of space, half begging for someone to drop melancholy, lovelorn lyrics into it. And across the board, I’m really taken by Ibo’s drumming. Easy and straightforward where it needs to be, he can also throw a switch and take it right into power mode.

Nothing But Hope can be fun to listen to, but only when it’s blended in with other music. There’s too much sameness, despite the obvious talent at work, to avoid the “didn’t I just hear this?” syndrome. Still, bright, well-produced, and catchy, it’s an album worth a listen.

Available from Fluttery Records.

 

Full disclosure: When I got an email telling me that Markus Reuter and Zero Ohms had made an album together, I made a very loud, happy sound. And then when I listened, I got much, much quieter…but still just as happy. Pressing play on this is your tacit agreement to leave the real world for an hour and fifteen minutes as Reuter and ZO (aka Richard Roberts) spin reams of pure sonic silk and wrap them around you. I don’t know that there are adequate words to describe this, and so I find myself defaulting to well-worn descriptors like warm and soft, flowing and enveloping. And as standard-issue as those words may seem, they are absolutely accurate. This is an atmosphere, insubstantial yet affecting, a thing that slowly connects with you and becomes you. As with any good spacemusic/ambient, what Reuter and Roberts put together here is gently woven in long pads that melt when they meet, frosted in places with sparkling notes and glistening moments. The opening track, “Unseen,” does have some sharp sounds in it, sudden flashes that jar slightly against the softer elements around them. The juxtaposition works, but even after several listens, I find I would have preferred them to be downplayed a bit. But it’s a choice, and once it is past, the flow goes along unabated. There are passages where melodies play out across light years, recognizable but easing past in their own very good time. To me, there is no way of saying that one element is Reuter’s and another is Roberts’; they simply coexist in quiet beauty, and the deeper I fall into this splendid album, the less I care about the why of it. Ideal for low-volume looping and sleep listening, it is also marvelously hypnotic and soothing in headphones. This one should be left to play for hours at a time. An amazing work from a pair of veteran composers. Alone, their work is always wonderful. Together, it is pure and beautiful alchemy. A must-hear.

Available from Iapetus and Relaxed Machinery.