Textured post-rock
Shylow's instrumental post-rock is, like all the best post-rock records, impressive in its scope but also it has an intimate quality; surrounding you with beautiful textures and gradually building layers. It is of course gentle to start, barely there but gorgeous and soothing sounds gather you in and have you drifting away with them in a second.
Opening track Presence takes its time to build, with lovely delicate and melodic moments from the guitar and then it gathers volume and power for the big bombastic finish; it's not pushing boundaries but it is very beautiful and does a great job of pushing all the right buttons. Absence is vaguely reminiscent of Neil Young's work on the Dead Man soundtrack in its opening moments – open sounding production and acoustic guitar with a fuzzy layer of static running underneath. That impression fades quickly however as the track has more of an organic quality to it, feeling less structured and more free flowing, it breaks softer moments with some really meaty riffage. The combination is just right, keeping things just the right side of darkly moody and still sounding epic.