TREMULANT EP

After the breakup of At the Drive In, guitarist Omar Rodr'guez Lopez, singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala, and keyboardist Jeremy Ward weren't done making music. Originally they began a side project known as De Facto, but that ended after a couple of studio releases in 2001. Their next, and currently the most known one, was The Mars Volta. This is a band that when I first listened to their music on De-Loused in the Comatorium, I instantly knew these guys would be one of my favorite bands. And though I have gone through their entire studio album discography, I have yet to listen to their first release up until a couple of weeks ago, the Tremulant EP. I think this was probably because I was never a fan of De Facto or At the Drive In, and I was worried that they might still carry those music visions into this EP and that it wouldn't have the progressive influences that their studio albums had. However, I was wrong. This is a pretty strong introduction to the band, and while I feel they could've shaved a few moments off here and there, extended some really good parts in the EP, or just improved the overall quality and playing on this album, I would say it's in between simply good and great. You sense something trying to escape and break free to branch into new territory and expand its musical boundaries, but I guess the fact that this was their first recorded output, everything might not be in place. Moving onto the personnel, it includes the three members I mentioned at the start, with the only difference being that Jeremy switched to sound distortion, Eva Gardner (who has recently rejoined the band a couple of years ago) on bass, Jon Theodore (who now plays with The Queens of Stone Age) on drums, and Ikey Owens on keyboards.

The EP opens with Cut That City, which has two different phases. The first phase is this spacey and electronic sequence of echoing notes, and though it's interesting to some extent, it drags a bit and is far from the best point on this album. The next phase starts with a heavy and progressive riff that embodies what The Mars Volta would become, but I don't like the vocals of this song. I can barely understand Cedric with the effects on his singing, and his true potential is just put to its full use. The song continues, changing every once in a while, and is just simply a good song. Maybe even great if the band worked on it a bit more. The next song is Concertina, which in simple terms can be described as Roulette Dares but weaker. For those who don't know, Roulette Dares is the second song on their debut album and is an incredible achievement and masterpiece of the modern progressive rock scene. Moving on to the actual song on the EP, it has a dynamic between descending and low experimentation on the instruments with an annoying vocal performance and some really nice and loud heavy bits. Jon keeps the rhythm going the entire time with Cedric switching between Spanish and English. At around the two-and-a-half-minute mark, the song speeds up in power before slowly winding down again after this brief burst of energy to quickly kill it off for a brief moment before bringing it back again for an emotional and energetic ending. Eunuch Provocateur is the last and longest song in the album, and it's pretty solid. It opens with a simple guitar piece by Omar before Jon adds a drumbeat that's almost a form of hardcore punk before Cedric comes into the picture, and while he brings more depth to the song as a whole, his vocals just aren't there yet. The band continues to follow a rough outline of this opening part while also branching out and experimenting with what they have available, gaining momentum as they do so until they end up at this electronic beat that over time breaks down and fades away. I'm not a big fan of this ending, and I feel that they could've done more for the finale of this EP.

In conclusion, it's alright. It has its great moments while being evened out by lackluster aspects. The main problem I found was that Cedric, as good a singer as he is, just generally has a bad performance on the EP. There are too many effects on it; I can't understand his lyrics, and he would do much better later on. My second problem is the opening and ending. Its electronic breakdown at the end is just boring, and the opening ambient phase of the first song carries on a little too long. I would recommend the EP to people who are either pretty familiar with the band or are looking for more of the earlier music of The Mars Volta, but definitely not for beginners. My final rating is a 3/5.