Shutter Release

Decent album on the extremely poppy side of post-rock (way more so than even Explosions in the Sky), very well produced by John Congleton. Liner notes draw comparisons to Tortoise, EitS, and Four Tet, all of which are reasonable. Sound is typically moderately loud with a number of instruments going off, there are always keys and drums but guitars (apparently a first for the band) and other less conventional instruments can be found on nearly every track. Vocals are occasionally present but either distorted or far enough in the back that they are completely unintelligible. Unfortunately tracks sound quite similar to one another, and all follow identical patterns of quiet-medium-loud even when one or two parts aren’t working.

No FCCs, Recommended: 1 (loud), 10 (quiet)

*1- (5:26) Opens with awesome pounding drums, which keep pace with the track the rest of the way. Nice key solo partway through. Very hopeful sounding
2- (3:43) First half features soaring guitar, band is definitely going for an epic sound here. Halfway through the structure completely changes, switching from keys to drum/guitar and it begins to sound like an instrumental pop song. Unfortunately there are hand claps/similar percussion.
3- (4:36) More atmospheric/down-tempo but a far cry from ambient. Calm and peaceful with slightly annoying xylophone(?). Picks up at a few places but near the end gains steam and unfortunately becomes very upbeat.
4- (2:34) Quiet acoustic guitars and keys carry the track along with some background noise until horns loudly kick in during the final minute.
5- (4:16) Chill piece, quiet high-pitched guitars and keys until final minute when it gets loud.
6- (3:41) Dancy beat at parts ruins this one for me, along with repetitive rhythm part.
7- (2:57) Quiet acoustic guitar-driven piece shuffles along pretty quickly with some build-up before the end.
8- (3:42) First half quiet with some light guitar and horns; second half switches to guitar overdrive, heavy keys and drums.
9- (4:35) Mostly keys and percussive noises with some vocal samples that sound like children.
*10- (6:17) Quietest track on the album; opens with acoustics, halfway through breaks down to vocal samples/background noise, brief silence around 3:20 then picks back up with high frequency noise alternating with silence until keys and weird voice samples return.