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Perhaps - Third CD (album) cover

THIRD

Perhaps

 

Post Rock/Math rock

3.78 | 16 ratings

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Neu!mann
Prog Reviewer
4 stars Just when I thought I finally had a grasp on this elusive Boston trio, they decided to call it quits. But at least the band went out in a satisfying blaze of glory, with arguably their most varied collection of music: almost accessible, always uncompromising, and as usual packing more energy into 36-minutes than most groups can manage over an entire career.

The Perhaps strategy seems to have been: throw as much into the mix as quickly as possible, and they certainly didn't waste any time here. The opening salvo, "Master Destroyer", kicks into immediate high gear without any set-up or fade-in: a kinetic rampage of adrenalin held together only by the steadfast but frantic drumming of Ron Taylor.

When the singing begins (a first for this band) the perspective shifts again, like a kaleidoscope rudely shaken. These aren't really songs, be assured: the vocals are no less amorphous than the background of music. But they add a necessary focus to the maelstrom of hyperactive guitars, horns, and synthesizers, in total approaching the dizzy heights of Krautrock psychedelia, but with a stable underpinning of Post Rock structure and design.

This is also the first Perhaps album with separate, indexed track titles, albeit still arranged as an uninterrupted, single block of music. Sean McDermott's unfettered guitar remains the primary instrument, able to demonstrate the outer limits of six-string centrifugal force in one solo before taking the voodoo way down in the next. "Dreamland II" displays a borderline-blues flavor under the usual collage of spacey effects, building toward the near-apocalyptic mayhem of "Donzo's Montreux". And from there it's a quick step over the precipice into the unexpected dreamscape of "Sleepwalker": seven dense minutes of somnolent yet majestic Space Rock, straight out of 1970's Germany.

Astute listeners might recognize the closing notes of this final Perhaps recording as the same, sitar-and-synth intro to their previous "Kamikaze". It's an appropriate gesture for a band about to willfully end its own life, marking a perfect conclusion to both an impressive album and a sadly abbreviated career.

Neu!mann | 4/5 |

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