RAILROADS

Post Rock, this time

Lost Reverie's second release, entitled Railroads, after the impressive, but somewhat disjointed debut, is a more concise album and shows Juan Herrera knowing exactly where to go. This time he leaves most of the heaviness behind and focus' on the melancholic and gentle aspects of Post Rock.

Opening with Kumori, an easy song to divide in two halfs. The first half being tranquil and atmospheric featuring Juan Herrera's first vocal appearance, and got to say they fit very well with the mood. The second half brings back the metal aspects of the debut with Juan's great capability on the guitar duites, but not really as heavy since the melancholic atmoshpere is still present in the background.

Ghosts is a rather tenebrous tune, as the title may imply, in which Juan was capable of achieving a pretty dark mood with the bass and guitar, yet never too scary to put the listener off.

Railroads on the other hand is a beautiful tune played softly with a lot of mellotron, but with enough emotion, thanks to Juan's great guitar playing, to keep the listener's attention.

The EP finishes with another gorgeous tune called Cloudy. As the title implies, it does have a semi-dark mood, but it doesn't work as a tenebrous factor as in Ghosts, if not for a rather nice mood with simple piano melodies and acoustic guitar chords.

As a whole, this EP by Juan is something that makes me look forward for his upcoming studio release. It's less heavy, but still takes your attention pretty easily and the compositions, like I stated at the beginning, are more concise than in the debut.

3 stars since they're only four songs and none are really excellent, yet if Juan manages to pull out an entire record in the likes of this EP, then that'll surely get the 4 stars.

Railroads!!!

Once again, it is a pleasure to me to review an effort made by a Mexican artist, Juan Herrera, a very talented musician is the man behind Lost Reverie and after his interesting debut back in 2008, he decided to created this 4-song EP entitled "Railroads", which was successfully released last year (2009) and again, I was pleased with his music.

The EP kicks off with "Kumori", a 5-minute song which opens with a repetitive electric guitar sound during the first minute, there is an innovation here, because for the very first time Juan Herrera vocals appear, (in his debut album he did not sing at all), and here appear with a delicate vocal sound; that repetitive guitar sound that opened the song continues, but accompanied by another elements, there is another guitar sound ala post rock, along with some electronic elements that in moments remind me to 65daysofstatic for instance, after 3 minutes, the song explodes and turns into a heavy post rock sound, reminding me to Lost Reverie's first album, Desiderata, I mean, this part of the song could have fit perfectly in his debut. The last minute of the song is a bit calmed; it has now a piano sound instead the guitar, very good.

Next track is "Ghosts" which happens to be the longest one on this EP, the start of this song is somehow similar to the first song, at least in terms of timing, because the guitar sound is darker, the repetition of this sound is what will make you stay and keep listening (or you may be bored after a couple of minutes), what I like of him is how he manages to keep the listener's attention with the different elements he adds through the minutes, I mean, no matter it may sound very repetitive, he incorporates new thing with the pass of the seconds, listen to it carefully and will understand what I mean. At minute 4, as in the previous song, he makes an explosion and that gently sound becomes more powerful, his guitar work is great, along with the piano sound and drums, if you didn't know, he plays all the instruments.

"Railroads" is a beautiful song which starts with a light guitar sound (very post rock), which makes a gently atmosphere that contrasts with the previous songs, now it is an ambient of peace, just before minute 2, a piano sound appears along with his voice, which to be honest is not the best voice I've heard but fits good, later drums enter as well following the same gently line, and the song keeps the same mellow and soft rhythm to the end, but I have to mention that there is a kind of violin sound which makes it even more beautiful; when the song reaches minute 4 it becomes a bit stronger and reminds me this time to some Demians parts, I do not know if Juan likes Demians but seems to be one of his direct influences. This is my favourite song.

And the album finishes with "Cloudy" which is the shortest song, which is like the reprise of Kumori, I mean the piano notes used at the beginning are the same ones at the end of the first song, but in this track after some seconds an acoustic guitar appears creating a kind atmosphere, here, to be honest I would have preferred the song without vocals, but it does sound good anyway.

I invite everyone who like post rock or even metal to take a listen to Lost Reverie's works, are interesting so you may like it.

My final grade for this cool EP is 3 stars.

Enjoy it!

Another great release that I never would have found out about without PA. "Railroads" by Lost Reverie does everything an EP should do: present musical ideas concisely, without a lot of flash. With only four relatively short songs, this is not nearly as "full" of a release as a complete album would be, but as far as an EP goes this one succeeds at everything it tries to do.

I would describe the music on "Railroads" as falling primarily on the more atmospheric, softer side of post-rock, but there are definitely heavy parts sprinkled in. There's a lot of delicate piano and some ethereal vocals thrown in, and all in all the arrangement is very good.

"Kumori" starts off the EP. The first part of the song is built around a repeating set of notes which is eventually developed with some minimal vocals, excellent percussion and some electronic effects which give the piece a unique feel. It takes a drastic turn at about its halfway point, getting much heavier and adding some excellent guitar soloing while keeping the same general harmonic progression. This second section makes the song feel very varied, and I think makes it much better than it would have been had it stuck with its first section for its entire 5 and a half minute duration.

"Ghosts" begins with a minor-key, somewhat sinister bass line which eventually has some very cool guitar and percussion added over it. Despite not having vocals, "Ghosts" is very similar structurally to "Kumori," with its first half characterized by a slow buildup of arrangement on top of its repeating element, and its second half adding a much heavier guitar part. I've always admired people who write Post-Rock type music for their ability to make music which is so built on repetition and yet never gets boring, and "Ghosts" only enforces that opinion. Though it's over 6 and a half minutes, it's never hard to listen to and certainly never wears on the listener's patience.

"Railroads" begins with some atmospheric sounds before a piano and some more vocals enter and the main melody picks up. This track, especially its second half, sounds very cheerful by Post-Rock's usually gloomy standards, and makes very good use of some string sounds to add to its ambience. There's another heavy section at the end, but the strings continue over it to create a very nice blend of melodic beauty and heaviness.

"Cloudy" concludes the EP. This song is driven primarily by a repeated piano line with acoustic guitar and strings backing it, and of the four tracks on the album it makes use of vocals most prominently. The only track on the album not to include a heavy section, "Cloudy" is a great closer that brings the EP to a nice thematic close, as it uses the same melody repeated melody as "Kumori," but an octave up and on a different instrument. It's a great way to tie the album together.

Overall, if I had to describe the tone of the music on this EP I would say "hopeful," which is a great thing in a genre that so often goes with "soul-crushing." As I mentioned before, one shouldn't expect this 21 minute EP to be as complete or fulfilling as a full album would be, but not a single moment of "Railroads" feels out of place. There are no stand-out, "take your breath away" tracks, but this really brilliant EP that executes everything it tries to do perfectly.

4/5