Review by Paul Broome




It's no secret that I love me a bit of post-rock. Give me a ten-minute reverb-soaked instrumental with interweaving guitar lines telling the tale of the Russian Civil War, or a bastardised mellotron-led slab of sound recounting the aroma of the breakfast that William McKinley ate on the morning he was assassinated, and I'm a very happy man. At its best, instrumental post-rock is an ever-flowing wave of raw emotion and base experience - it moves the listener at a very pure level.

So it was with eagerness that I fired up the debut long-player from this Nottingham-based quartet. Rather than twinkling into life, it explodes into view - there's a good deal of attitude sprayed liberally throughout these seven tracks, which at times evoke Mogwai at their most Rock. But there's also a pervading elegance and romanticism (especially on 'Together We Glimpsed the Heavens' and 'The Sky Weeps and Stars Collide') - and the mixing of these two extremes will probably result in the band being hailed as the British answer to Explosions in the Sky. The quality of the song-writing and musicianship on display proves that they have the chops to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with their peers on both sides of the Atlantic.

A truly beautiful heartfelt suite of songs, and one that deserves a great deal of attention. Now if somebody could sort out a double-headed tour with these guys and Tamworth's Structures we could show the rest of the world just how immense Midlands-based post-rock has become.

Track Listing:

1. Corridors
2. When Our Eyes Met
3. Together We Glimpsed the Heavens
4. Whatever Happens
5. The Sky Weeps and Stars Collide
6. Ships in the Night
7. The Courage to Start Again

8/10

http://www.andstarscollide.com/