Foe "Arm Yourself With Clairvoyance" CD
[House of Stairs]
This is the debut full-length from this London, England band, and it's damn good. They're an instrumental trio using bass, baritone guitar, guitar and drums, and these songs are all about rhythm. They're throwing out plenty of odd time signatures and fucked up changes, they've got the chord progressions and thicker passages of bands like Breadwinner with note-based riffs and fucked up discordant runs that have a more modern vibe, but they never get chaotic or over the top which is great. Even with the constant flurry of changes and stuttered rhythmic emphasis, there's a certain melodic sensibility going on most of the time. And some of the writing is blatantly influenced by 70's progressive rock, but they have their own unique take on that, so there's a lot going on. Great stuff. The lengthy tracks that top seven or nine minutes flow well and remain interesting, too. And the performances are all tight as shit, not to mention impressively complex. The drummer is spectacular, the basslines work well against the guitars and drums while remaining their own instrument, and though guitars tend to be in the foreground, they don't necessarily run the show, so there's a lot of detail to pick through. The recording is really dry, though very natural. It takes some getting used to but it's really not so bad at all. A great bass presence and tons of clarity gives the instruments space, there's a raw texture to the guitars, the drums sound right on, and so on. The layout is extremely minimal but looks great. Everything is done in shades of blue with some metallic silver, and all of the imagery is either solid blue panels or abstract blue textures with small, crisp type. Instrumental acts are fairly rare these days, especially in this field and of this level of quality. If they keep this up and continue to grow they could and probably should be heralded within the ranks of the legends that came before them. Definitely check this out if you're into bands like Breadwinner, Dysrhythmia, etc. (7/10)
Running time - 32:18, Tracks: 7
[Notable tracks: Ted Parsons (And How to Live It), Triangulator, Wasp-eating Bulldog]
House of Stairs - http://www.houseofstairs.com

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