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Recording:
  In the Event of Tomorrow  
 
Artist:
  The Post  
 
Label:
  Jalisco Records  
 
Release Date:
  13.September.2005  
 
Reviewed by:
  Brett Spaceman  
         
 
Rating:
   
         
 
Review:
 

"I've been waiting for a guide to come and take me by the hand"

The guide? Specifically Virgil (in Dantés Divine Comedy), as I'm convinced Hell's most renowned tourist would be of some comfort promenading these dark chambers. In the world of The Post, violence and anguish quickly submit to hopelessness. With In the Event of Tomorrow, such recurring themes lend the bands third offering the status of 'concept album' in the art of despair.

Beginning with the mournful Where Are the Wolves, angular guitar landscapes reminiscent of Slint or (Come On Die Young-era) Mogwai and a shimmer of reverb combine to conjure imagery of extreme isolation. Against this backdrop, a strained howl of a vocal makes singer Oliver Boch seem to cry his lyrics. I know of nothing comparable save perhaps an early Nick Cave or David Byrne. Boch sobs and bleeds over the music and there's no let-up, no happy ending, just circle within circle of pain and suffering.

"Choke on your last breath, ask me no questions" compels Into the Lifeboats. Indeed the whole album is laced with sensations of abandonment, helplessness and the certainty that no relief shall be forthcoming. Elsewhere Shattered at the Mouthpiece serves as a perfect instrumental aperitif for the majestic Helping Hands. Whereas the former track (think Bloc Party) merely plays at being an early Joy Division, the later does it for real with impressive spatial production and spectral music. I am reminded here also of Wolfgang Press masterwork I am the Crime, while later offering Until we Bring recalls 90s alt-rockers The God Machine in its arrangements.

That In the Event of Tomorrow even saw light of day is testament to founder member Oliver Bochs' resilience and ingenuity during testing times. Wholesale line-up changes forced the album to be recorded in two completely separate sessions. Boch took the ambitious decision to segue the different tracks using loops and samples, the effect of which transformed the modest handful of discordant tracks into a far more atmospheric, holistic body of work.

Considering the burgeoning recognition for the genre 'Post Rock', The Post made a brave choice simply naming themselves as such. Certainly, yes they inhabit the further regions of rocks bleak landscapes, but The Post never really 'rock' either in the traditional sense or in any other sense. Bass would benefit from greater confidence especially given that The Post don't follow the quiet LOUD template many of the post rockers rely on. Not for them 9 min-plus track lengths either. The whole album is confined within 39 minutes. Perhaps wisely so, for this is an examination in personal tolerance levels surpassing even Radiohead at their most tormented.

The concluding and defining moment is undoubtedly Polar. After the tortured journey taken thus far, Polar feels like the blissful release only death can bring. A hauntingly beautiful elegy with its delicate keyboard sequences by far the most melodic thing we've encountered.

"The only thing I'll say to you, it will soon be fine" The sound, simply, of letting go. Let us hope that The Post as a jobbing band do not submit their career as easily as their thematic protagonist might.

"Abandon all hope, ye who enter here."

 
         
 
Related Links:
 

www.jaliscorecords.com - label
www.morphius.com - distributor

 
         

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