EQUAL UNEQUALS TO EQUAL

I'm not sure what it is about post-rock and math rock bands that makes them want to be so cryptic but as time presses on many of these acts just get weirder with their band names and grammar bending album titles. TFVSJS is a 5-piece all instrumental band from Hong Kong that sits somewhere between the world of cyclical post-rock and the choppier hyperactivity of math rock. Having started out as a post-hardcore band with elements of screamo, this mathier-than-thou outfit has matured into a bizarre mix of Mogwai inspired post-rock hypnotic melodic cycles peppered with crazy complex rhythms that belie the fact they have emerged from the Far East.

Sounding more like some nerdy band from Chicago or anywhere within a 100 mile radius, TFVSJS tackles this American style of instrumental dynamics quite well and has established itself as one of Hong Kong's best kept secrets. The band has been around for about a decade and released its debut "equal unequals to equal" back in 2013 which featured a unique style of technical math rock that showcases the twin guitar deliveries of Adonian Chan and Milk Tsang along with Sean Pang on bass and the doubling drumming prowess of Chapman So and Antonio Fung. This is a noisier style of math / post-rock than the usual contenders with not only those lush clean guitar driven passages but plenty of angsty distorted grit holdover from the days of hardcore.

"equal unequals to equal" surreptitiously sucks you in with its classic post-rock goods that includes a simple rhythmic drive and catchy easily recognizable melody that repeats to infinity but then adds the usual touches of ratcheting up to clamoring crescendoes however on the way there are plenty of nerdy freak-outs that include jittery time signature bombast as well as deafening tones and timbres at war with each other like a Jackie Chan movie being playing at a demolition site. The musicians excel at alternating between soft seductive passages and then pulling the rug out from under your feet and hammering you with unrelenting dissonance and drama.

This is the type of music that i swear is inspired by reading computer programming codes as even the titles alternative between Chinese and English with the fifth track featuring both languages: "之 /between/間." While i wouldn't consider TFVSJS's debut to be anything amazingly groundbreaking, it sure is a more pleasant listen than many average post-rock albums as it understands the need to fortify the repetitive grooves with some sort of contrast to avoid an impending snoozeville. The highlight of this band is the precision that is involved in the math rock aspects although the musicians only implement such attacks in context of the post-rock fluidity. Overall a pretty decent listen although not as brilliant as some of the more accomplished bands in the genre.

3.5 but can't quite pull the 4 star roundup trigger