ANY DAY NOW

Second EP from this Norwegian post-rock quartet was released in November 2009. Four atmospheric, cool and a bit fairy songs with slight scent of Nordic folk. Classic twin-guitars based post-rock quartet is supported by additional drummer, violinist and bells.

Music is what you're expecting from Norwegian post-rock, with all pros and cons. And being a very fresh and pleasant listening, it lucks personality, what is main problem for hundred other post-rock bands.

Not bad listening for genre fans, but don't expect unusual music: you will get what you expected.

Not that it matters, but in my October '09 review of the freshman effort by this young quartet of Scandinavian post-rockers I ended by writing "...a follow-up EP is due any day now." Less than a month later the new recording was released (again, via free digital download from the band's web site), and what's the title? That's right: "Any Day Now"...a mere coincidence, or uncanny cyber-synchronicity?

My initial response to the new recording is to note the more aggressive sound of the band this time out. The EP opener "Geigenteller" plays like a long-lost EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY composition, but the addition of violins and (on later tracks) saxophone helps to make the music fairly unique. The EXPLOSIONS influence surfaces even higher in the aptly-titled closer "Beauty of the Night", drawing a solid line from the kindred twin-guitar icons of Austin, Texas to the 1099 home base in Trondheim, half a world away in western Norway.

Each of the four songs blends smoothly into the next, alternating between moods of blissful near-ambient calm and fuzzed-out guitar catharsis, particularly effective in the emphatically titled "Up! Up! Up!" The abrupt ending to this track is the exception to the otherwise seamless flow of the EP, sounding like someone accidentally kicked a plug out of its socket.

This new effort doesn't advance the band's style any further from their year 2008 debut, but at least consolidates their aims with confidence and strength. And if the all-too brief 21-minute running time (far shorter than their first release) seems a liability, keep in mind the group is generously giving both recordings away free of charge, a welcome altruistic gesture in tough economic times. Consider the two EPs as separate halves of a single worthwhile CD, and well worth inclusion in the expanding pantheon of international Post-Rock.

Any Day Now is a 21-minute instrumental divided into four tracks - - although listening to the EP straight through, you'd be unlikely to guess where the divisions are. Any Day Now alternates between soft and loud sections, and between uplifting themes and sections of pensive or indeterminate mood.

The main instruments seem to be two guitars and a drum kit; the bass guitar doesn't really stand out - - but maybe it's my sound system. There are also sections which seem to be backed with synthesizer washes which on closer inspection are guitars with sweetening effects. There are also some passages which feature some nicely played violin, such as on the first track, "Geigerteller" ("Geiger counter"). With its shifting moods, "Geigerteller" is a microcosm of Any Day Now as a whole. Melodically, it's also reminiscent of "Jan Mayen Skyline" from their previous EP, Machine! Fire! Ghost!.

"Geigerteller" and "Up! Up! Up!" are bridged by the aptly-named transition "In Transit," a pensive, rhythmless passage which melts from one piece to the other, and it's not until the rhythmic part of "Up! Up! Up!" begins two minutes into the song that I know for sure that the transition is over. "Up! Up! Up!" Grows more intense, closing with a heavier section in 9/8, or maybe 9/4 - - but not as heavy as the opening of "Beauty of the Night." After two minutes of slow, noisy, distorted guitars with drum fills and feedback squeals, "Beauty" is suddenly transformed into a plaintive 3/4 passage focused mainly on plucked guitar and solo violin, with cymbals and guitar chords in back. Eventually the drummer plays picks up the midtempo beat, and the heavily distorted guitar(s) from the first movement return, resolving into a majestic theme over a long fade,closed with some very faint, high-pitched notes.

Any Day Now improves upon 1099's debut EP, Machine! Fire! Ghost!, although in my opinion, they're still wavering between creating experimental, semi-structured songs and broad, impressionistic soundscapes. They seem better suited to the latter, but the stylistic shifts, while nicely executed, are too frequent for me to enjoy this as ambient music. But it's still admirable for what it is.