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I Am The Architect - 11 CD (album) cover

11

I Am The Architect

 

Post Rock/Math rock

3.02 | 6 ratings

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Neu!mann
Prog Reviewer
3 stars I know what you're thinking: not another Post Rock guitar band with a silly name! But these guys are head and shoulders above the usual twin-guitar MOGWAI clones, and their four-song debut EP shows a lot of promise over its brief thirty-minute length.

I'm convinced the global proliferation of likeminded bands can be explained by the disarming (and usually misleading) simplicity of the signature Post Rock style: the chiming guitars; the atmospheric halo of ENO-influenced ambient effects; the dignified 4/4 tempos slowly rising to massive, feedback-soaked climaxes; so forth and so on. The only measure of relative quality is how well the clichés are applied, and by that yardstick this German quintet has at least two advantages over their peers.

Firstly, they invest the necessary time in writing music with genuine melodic interest: entirely instrumental of course, but leaning less hard on the usual Post Rock crutch of noisy epiphanies. Each of the four tracks here is structured almost like an actual song, with moody lead guitars often taking the role of a vocalist. Listen to the surprisingly relaxed and upbeat into of "Quit", leading to the beautiful abyss of "Remote Control": a stately but powerful anthem worthy of inclusion on any PORCUPINE TREE album. The very pretty "Silence, Silence" is an unexpected change of pace, followed by the more traditional Post Rock apotheosis of "Solitude", closing the EP on a strong note.

Secondly, unlike many newcomers on the Post Rock bandwagon, these guys know their way around their instruments. This is a very tight ensemble (especially evident in the rhythm section), with real chemistry between all five players. And the addition of understated keyboards is a definite boon.

My conservative three-star rating reflects not only the brevity of their first recorded effort, but also its obvious untapped potential. It's hard to gauge how well the music might be sustained over a full-length album, but for now the quintet is standing relatively tall among the growing number of new bands jostling for space beneath a very crowded Post Rock umbrella.

Neu!mann | 3/5 |

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