Blake Solomon
11/23/08, 05:20 PM
Followed by Ghosts. – Dear Monsters, Be Patient
Record Label: Unsigned
Release Date: Mid Summer 2008
People seem to enjoy walking in circles. Familiar scenery, familiar faces, familiar footprints, each allows us to sleep just a smidge easier. Spoiler alerts are a welcomed way of life. And Followed by Ghosts know this. Well, most post-rock bands know this. It’s a style that usually illuminates its intended path much too soon. The instruments are slowing, quieting, building; a climax is imminent. Guessing when to pay attention during an Explosions In The Sky song, for example – This is not where I say FBG sound like EITS – isn’t exactly a difficult procedure, in fact it’s almost scientific. But on Dear Monsters, Be Patient, you might, and I mean just might, be taken off guard once in a while. You may not always recognize where you’re going, but put a little faith in me when I say, you’ll fall in love with the beautiful, new destinations ahead.
Followed by Ghosts’ quick switches into the unknown won’t necessarily frighten like the album title suggests, but it will magnify instrumental music’s oft-overlooked free-spiritedness. “Dear Monsters,” wastes little time with the twittering of intro “5:52 AM” and almost immediately erupts into flurried guitars. This screeching continues right to the brink of irritation before quieting again. FBG’s don’t-relax-yet style plays out like one of those M. Night Shyamalan movies you claim to hate but actually love. (Lady in the Water changed my life.) “Riga” once again continues the nature/bird motif, and this time Followed By Ghosts choose to ease us into chaos. Bending guitar riffs signal the unexpected usage of regal trumpets that lead eerie guitars and military-precise drums. Ringing bells complete the equation by adding drama and bigger-than-music atmospheres. The pace can change at breakneck speeds here, well, as breakneck as a 5-minute song can be.
“Showdown at High Noon”, not surprisingly, hits the hardest in its climax. Snare taps and Jordan Bancroft-Smithe’s trembling bass alert us to upcoming pastures full of head-banging and foot-stomping. This short but energetic movement leads us into a finalizing trilogy of 7 minute wonders, most notably among them being “All Is Lost.” (Not exactly the happiest of song titles, and this does remind me of EITS’ latest.) Once again we begin lightly, which as you may have guessed by now, is meant to mislead, to throw smoke in our face and hide the truth. The song goes from soft to medium to very soft to loud to LOUD. And we never know where or when it will happen. Even the climax builds upon itself longer than expected, and all the while drums and guitars hit pitches and decibels we didn’t think possible for the band. We are made to wait, salivate and contemplate. What does it all mean? Why don’t we get what we expected? Then it hits you; that’s why: “If I wanted to know beforehand, I would’ve listened to This Will Destroy You’s music-by-numbers!”
And yeah, fans of the band know this isn’t completely different or a 180 from FBG’s old record. But the way they take restrictions and turn them into cliffhangers or subplots is more than enough to keep me excited. And as long as Followed by Ghosts. keep moving from point A to point B - but only by taking a detour through point E - I’ll keep listening with the attention span of someone twice my maturity level.
Recommended If You Like: Foxhole, Flies are Spies from Hell, "Is this what it's usually like?", Godspeed You! Black Emperor, "No, where's the real thing?", ha - ok Explosions in the Sky
www.myspace.com/followedbyghosts
Record Label: Unsigned
Release Date: Mid Summer 2008
People seem to enjoy walking in circles. Familiar scenery, familiar faces, familiar footprints, each allows us to sleep just a smidge easier. Spoiler alerts are a welcomed way of life. And Followed by Ghosts know this. Well, most post-rock bands know this. It’s a style that usually illuminates its intended path much too soon. The instruments are slowing, quieting, building; a climax is imminent. Guessing when to pay attention during an Explosions In The Sky song, for example – This is not where I say FBG sound like EITS – isn’t exactly a difficult procedure, in fact it’s almost scientific. But on Dear Monsters, Be Patient, you might, and I mean just might, be taken off guard once in a while. You may not always recognize where you’re going, but put a little faith in me when I say, you’ll fall in love with the beautiful, new destinations ahead.
Followed by Ghosts’ quick switches into the unknown won’t necessarily frighten like the album title suggests, but it will magnify instrumental music’s oft-overlooked free-spiritedness. “Dear Monsters,” wastes little time with the twittering of intro “5:52 AM” and almost immediately erupts into flurried guitars. This screeching continues right to the brink of irritation before quieting again. FBG’s don’t-relax-yet style plays out like one of those M. Night Shyamalan movies you claim to hate but actually love. (Lady in the Water changed my life.) “Riga” once again continues the nature/bird motif, and this time Followed By Ghosts choose to ease us into chaos. Bending guitar riffs signal the unexpected usage of regal trumpets that lead eerie guitars and military-precise drums. Ringing bells complete the equation by adding drama and bigger-than-music atmospheres. The pace can change at breakneck speeds here, well, as breakneck as a 5-minute song can be.
“Showdown at High Noon”, not surprisingly, hits the hardest in its climax. Snare taps and Jordan Bancroft-Smithe’s trembling bass alert us to upcoming pastures full of head-banging and foot-stomping. This short but energetic movement leads us into a finalizing trilogy of 7 minute wonders, most notably among them being “All Is Lost.” (Not exactly the happiest of song titles, and this does remind me of EITS’ latest.) Once again we begin lightly, which as you may have guessed by now, is meant to mislead, to throw smoke in our face and hide the truth. The song goes from soft to medium to very soft to loud to LOUD. And we never know where or when it will happen. Even the climax builds upon itself longer than expected, and all the while drums and guitars hit pitches and decibels we didn’t think possible for the band. We are made to wait, salivate and contemplate. What does it all mean? Why don’t we get what we expected? Then it hits you; that’s why: “If I wanted to know beforehand, I would’ve listened to This Will Destroy You’s music-by-numbers!”
And yeah, fans of the band know this isn’t completely different or a 180 from FBG’s old record. But the way they take restrictions and turn them into cliffhangers or subplots is more than enough to keep me excited. And as long as Followed by Ghosts. keep moving from point A to point B - but only by taking a detour through point E - I’ll keep listening with the attention span of someone twice my maturity level.
Recommended If You Like: Foxhole, Flies are Spies from Hell, "Is this what it's usually like?", Godspeed You! Black Emperor, "No, where's the real thing?", ha - ok Explosions in the Sky
www.myspace.com/followedbyghosts