TOM'S STORY

— First review of this album —

Both math rock and post-rock have gone global at this point but these styles of music are still primarily associated with the middle section of the USA and Canada with a few outliers like the UK's Bark Psychosis and Mogwai and Iceland's Sigur R's. The Philippines is not what comes to mind when thinking of this musical style though but that's exactly where this band comes from. TOM'S STORY is an instrumental rock trio based in Manila and consists of Tom Naval on bass, Gabba Santiago on guitars, and Christer "Degs" de Guia on drums. The three have been high school friends since 2010 when they unofficially formed this band but as the years went by the love of music grew and they began to take it more seriously.

After playing live shows for years this trio opened for band's like Silent Scenery from Malaysia and then released a few tracks on split EPs with Legarda and Monochrome. While starting out more in the realms of punk rock, the trio toned down its rowdy rock ethos into a more placid style of post-rock with a few math rock sprinklings on its eponymously titled debut album which came out in 2016. This is one of those bands that relishes in the simplicity of it all much like Australia's Dirty Three this outfit keeps the cyclical melodic loops humming along for an album's run with subtle variations oozing out of every cadence. The guitar tones are warm and inviting as are the bass counterpoints. The drums are on the mellower side and the music never really heats up past simmer.

Sounding most like Mogwai this band tends to get stuck in a repertoire that is a bit predictable with each of the ten tracks pretty much sounding like the next but with a crisp clean production and nice movements from semi-upbeat rhythms to softer passages, the guitar arpeggiated rich processions are quite pleasant however this is the kind of music that makes decent background noise while doing other things but doesn't quite muster up enough creative content to sustain my interest for an album's run of material. TOM'S STORY is more noted for its energetic live performances where they have mastered the art of audience interaction but as far as a studio album's worth of material they haven't quite mastered the art of keeping things diverse enough to make the album a fun active experience. Only the first album so who knows what the future will bring but as far as this one goes, it's OK and not much more.