SPINE AND SENSORY

A post rock/math rock band from USA.; well, where else? It seems that every band that plays this genre comes from that country (albeit also from different regions). I´m not an especialist or even fan of this kind of music, but since I like to try something new once in a while I decided to give it a shot. Besides, the name was quite curious (Tristeza means sadness in portuguese, but I don´t know if there is any connection with my native language).

This is their debut and I found the music inside quite interesting: guitar driven, as it is common with post rock bands, but there are (discreet) keyboards too. The tracks are all short (the only exceptionis When We Glow, which clocks a little over the 6 minute mark) and totally instrumental. As usual on this style, the melodies are quite delicate and minimalistic. For the casual listener they might sound repetitive and without much structure, but after some spíns it´s easy to find that they are quite nice and atmospheric (NOT new age). Different, ok, but not self indulgent nor too freakish like so many avant guard or ´modern´ stuff I´ve found during the years. Here the music is definitly more on the soft side, like a soundtrack of a film, making you think of nice landscapes and travellings.

The album has no highlights, neither there are lows. It flows consistenly during the whole 42 minutes of its duration and it didn´t sound boring at all. You may take some time to really get into this album (again, my case, I´m not really a fan), but it is worth to get to know this band. Specially if you like instrumental soundtracks with lots of subtle details and melodies.

Rating, 3.5 stars.