WINTER HYMN COUNTRY HYMN SECRET HYMN

The fourth album from this Toronto band but the first I have heard in full, only hearing a couple of songs from other albums. Supposedly these guys were influenced by Tortoise, but they generally sound like a happier version of fellow Canadians GYBE and A Silver Mt Zion. DMST use the typical guitars-bass-drums but also make good use of keyboards and trumpet as well.

You can listen to the first song "Frederica" here on PA. It's the stand out song, not that the other songs are no good, just not as good as this is. This has a really nice bass sound at first, it sounds acoustic but I don't think it is. Guitars play repeated melodies until about 1 1/2 minutes, then some jazzy drumming comes in and everything else resumes again. Later the bassline and guitar playing changes but the drums stay the same...actually getting faster. Some wind or string instrument (possibly altered) sounds start to dominate. After 6 minutes is a really cool distorted bass sound, I love how the music builds towards a crescendo here. The whole song mellows out for awhile and gets more loose. Eventually it builds up to another crescendo with more distorted bass. The opening guitar melodies are reprised at the end.

"Auberge le Mouton Noir" has an interesting waltz-type rhythm along with a marching snare. Very typical post-rock guitar playing. In the middle gets a more punk style beat before switching to a more jazzy style. Cool sounds from some altered instrument before 5 minutes. "Outer, Inner & Secret" starts off with some light jazzy drums. A walking bassline, some minimalistic guitars and some atmospheric keyboard sounds. Starting around 4 minutes several cresendos are built up but don't reach their climax. Great drumming after 5 minutes. Some GYBE like guitar sounds for awhile. More false crescendos at the end.

"Ontario Plates" is a jazzy song with some nice trumpet. Gets more folky and electronic about halfway. Ends very celebratory sounding. "Horns Of A Rabbit" is a stand out track. Love the synth bass sound here. Great Radiohead style drumbeat. Some good melodic guitar in places. Over halfway gets more energenic. I love the synth sounds at the beginning of "Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!" All the other instruments are loose and random until acoustic guitar comes in. The music keeps stopping then resuming. After 3 minutes goes into a great country sounding part (post-country?). Lots of synth effects and twangy guitar. Some "ahh" type harmony vocals later before the drummer puts emphasis on the bass drum. More country style guitar.

Throughout the album you hear synthetic raindrop sounds at the end and beginning of most songs. These guys are usually instrumental. Nothing totally original but enjoyable nonetheless. I don't think they have any real weak moments, just that their strongest moments are few and far between. I would rate this 3.5 but I'll bump it up to 4 stars.