AT THE SOUNDLESS DAWN

This album is pure beauty from the second it starts. It is powerful and heavy, but never metallic. It is thickly instrumental, vast and dramatic, but never overblown. As soon as the first track starts, you'll know that Red Sparowes aren't like the other post-rock bands you've heard.

As a general description, I would call the music a pleasant mix of all the best parts of Pelican and Explosions in the Sky. The album is entirely guitar based, with an infusion of pedal steel, which while it sounds odd, actually works quite well with their sound. The guitar parts vary between EitS-like harmonies to somewhat heavier riffs, though no song could in fact be said to be riff-based. This is one of very few albums I know of where I could say that just about every song on the album is equally strong. My one complaint, however, is that most of the songs sound somewhat alike, but I think in the end this can be forgiven.

It is very clear from the sound of this record that the music comes naturally from the band, and each song flows seamlessly from beginning to end. In fact, the album flows pretty much the same way.

Let's give this album 4 stars for it's sheer emotion and great craftsmanship. It isn't a 5 star album, but Red Sparowes have plenty of potential to be a 5 star band. I hope to hear more from them soon!