TRISTEZA

This is a very pleasant album with enough sophistication and variation to be interesting, despite it all sounding very organic. Although everything fits well together and the album overall is a very good listen, there's a certain variation in the quality of the tracks; we get some wonderful moments of magic (Halo Heads, Liquid Pyramids, Palindrome Dome) and some tracks that are good but not that special and memorable. The opener Abrazo Distante is fine but not among the top three of the album, and tracks 2 and 3 are rather of the latter class, so the album may be underestimated when test listening from the beginning. Give it some time to take shape and develop toward the real highlights! 4.0 stars.

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.

There is not much to say about this single, it features only a couple of songs and a total time of almost eleven minutes. It was released under Tiger Style label, as well as some of their records. "Are We People" and "When Morning Steals the Sky" are the tracks that can be listened here. Both are actually pretty good songs showing that own and original Tristeza sound.

The guitar work is full of emotions, they create images and feeling all over the minutes; but the songs would not succeed if there wasn't a keyboard, I mean, the textures and colors that it creates, help the song and the other instruments to come together and form a strong unit, a strong song. I like how the music is gradually progressing until it reaches its climax, when that happens, one can truly enjoy what is listening to, if you have good headphones, then put them and close your eyes.

The music is nice, but since we are talking about a single CD and only ten minutes, I cannot help but rating it with two stars. You better get their studio albums, and fall in love with this band.

Enjoy it!

Tristeza are a post-rock band from the USA who started making music in the latter 90s, since then, they have gained recognition in North America mainly, but also in different parts of the world, including Europe and Japan. Their classic line-up, however, ended by 2003, when James LaValle decided to leave the band in order to create his alternative project: The Album Leaf. It is important to mention that a year earlier (2002) Stephen Swesey also left the band.

This EP is composed by some songs that did not fit in earlier albums, and also by new songs. "Espuma" released in 2003 features seven songs and a total time of 24 minutes. It kicks off with "Bankoku" which is a short one-minute introduction to the EP, just a nice soft atmospheric passage that will lead you to "Glimpse Exposure", this song has that guitar driven post-rock sound that bands like Explosions in the Sky or God is an Astronaut have. This is a nice song because of the different elements and nuances that can be heard while the seconds pass.

"Avant Reverse" is another short track which is not really interesting; you don't miss anything here, drums and keyboards and that's it. "Enchanter" is another short, well not that short track, it has some nice soundscapes and atmospheres, the bass lines and constant drums are quite nice, but the best thing here are the sounds make by keyboards.

At last a long song, "Living Stains" shares seven minutes of great post rock music. The guitar work here might not be astounding, but it is quite good, actually the mood and the atmosphere they create help a lot enjoying the song. If I am not wrong, this song was a live performance taken for this EP, it is a nice experience to hear how the song gradually grows and progresses.

"This Trap" is a soft theme that does not necessarily sounds as a post rock one, the acoustic guitar sound adds a nice touch to the music. The track is repetitive and may bore you, honestly is not a song I would remember. But on the other hand "All Countries" is a great track that returns to that guitar driven post rock sound creating emotions and images.

It is a nice EP, but honestly it is far from being one of Tristeza's highlights. Overall the songs are nice, maybe repetitive in moments and there are a couple of tracks easy to forget, though I would love to give this EP three stars, I actually would not say it is good and recommendable for anyone, so I would only recommend it to both, post-rock and of course, Tristeza fans.

Enjoy it!