OTHER TRUTHS

This is DMST's most musical of their first six albums. While their other albums mixed a bunch of different styles, but usually with a few great longer signature pieces, this albums only contains four signature pieces, and no filler. While feeling loose and improvised, each of the four tunes has a definite structure. The first three compositions are crafted to build up from an in auspicious beginning to a rapturous emotional peak. This build up is accompanied by the addition of horns (saxes and trumpets, as well as violin) and the occasional rag-tag choir. However, what makes each of these tracks so musical is that they also have mastered the art of the outro. This is a stumbling block for many bands - they build up to the peak, but then what? Most often, the peak IS the end, and this is even true on some early DMST albums. But here, there are a good three minutes of excellent music after the peak, putting excellent use to the brass, guitar distortion and other effects. Indeed, I think the outros here compete with the build-ups in terms of musicality. The weakest parts of each song is actually the beginning. The second track ('Make' - each of the four songs is a word from the band's name), in particular, starts with a musically-weak theme played on bass and drums (the only musically-weak spot on the album), but this gets parlayed into a fantastic additional 11 minutes of music with a beautiful brass-section theme after the peak. The first track ('Do') is structured around an electric-guitar theme, not too dissimilar in sound to the highly-respected first track ('When the Day Chokes the Night') on their second album, Goodbye Enemy Airship - The Landlord is Dead. The song builds up over its 10 minutes to this laddered bass-line theme over which horns are added, distorting creatively into a wall of sound that slowly evolves in very musical fashion until it doesn't. The third track ('Say') is probably the most musical here, though. Morphing between three different themes, but always very compelling, it displays a bit of math-rock before succumbing to majestic horns and distorted guitar washes. The outro again is fantastic. The only piece here that doesn't conform to a similar structure is the last tune ('Think'). Instead, this is a very melancholy tune based around an electric-guitar theme and very similar sonically to a number of tunes from their earlier albums, except that this one is dripping in emotion. Really, it should have been called 'So Long' - it feels so much like goodbye letter, and indeed this was the last thing the band recorded before their long hiatus (for 8 years). This last track doesn't build - instead it just fades out. On the whole, a coherent musical album, and one that I am often drawn to listen to. I give this 8.4 out of 10 on my 10-point scale, which translates to 4 PA stars.

Share this DO MAKE SAY THINK review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to Walkscore
• Report this review (#1697983)
• Buy DO MAKE SAY THINK music online with PA partners
• Show all DO MAKE SAY THINK MP3/Stream
• Go to DO MAKE SAY THINK page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Other Truths page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for DO MAKE SAY THINK related discussions