Epic and precise
This is te's fifth album but their debut UK release so it's the first time the Japanese post-rockers have graced the RoomThirteen playlist. It's a shame we haven't had the opportunity to hear their previous releases as this is a fantastic record - progressive post-rock instrumentals with some cracking melodic guitars lines. The album provides plenty of mathy guitar sections and slow builds to soaring skin tingling all out assaults, but the approach here is always very tight and controlled, meaning they sit somewhere between the full-on emotional epics of Envy and the precise math-rock twiddling of Minus The Bear (but obviously without the vocal input, which as with all great instrumental records you really don't miss at all).
The song titles are interesting; appearing as Kanji when the CD is fed into itunes but the CD sleeve lists the English translations and they are so long they are more like sentences than track names. They read like a summation of what the band might have included had the tracks had lyrics - for instance the brilliant track 8 is entitled 'Convulsive' beauty in sound is the horror of the body beyond the idea to visit the wild, a bit of a mouthful you'll agree, and while its interesting to mull over what the meaning might be, this tune (like many of the others) soars and lifts the spirits, breaking the shackles of this wordy title and in classic post-rock fashion it takes you on an emotive journey, making the title something of a moot point anyway.
The album pulls you in with super tight and technically complex guitar work but also has a strong emotional core. These are cleverly constructed tracks which play with a spot on mix of melody and heady layering so depending on your mood you'll either be jumping round the room like a nutter or indulging in a bit of impressed chin stroking and head nodding whist letting it wash over you - both should be undertaken at full volume though. All in all what you have is a totally addicting record that's impossible to put down - a late contender for record of the year. Let's hope their previous releases will now get a UK release as we'd love to hear more.