WE WILL CARRY YOU OVER THE MOUNTAINS

Magyar Posse's debut album reveals a post-rock collective clearly inspired by the likes of Mogwai - particularly Mogwai's busier material, as showcased effectively on the Rock Action album - but at the same time achieve their own individual take on post-rock by taking on the motorik rhythms of krautrock masters such as Neu! or Kraftwerk. Thus, the band are a product of the cross-fertilisation of post-rock and prog rock which really got underway in the early 2000s, and We Will Carry You Over the Mountains is a fascinating product of that cross-fertilisation experiment which is a very accessible introduction to the band's music - and post-rock in general, if you happen to be a Neu! fan.

The first album by Finland's Magyar Posse (named after a cheap local wine, or so I'm told) announced the arrival of a promising new band: yet another gem from northern latitudes. Their style was always a little too unique for the Post Rock pigeonhole, resembling instead a series of atmospheric, ersatz film score instrumentals, but with a melancholy Krautrock vibe.

The group was still a quartet at the time, and hadn't yet patented the edgy, angular rhythms that would later define their 2006 studio swan song "Random Avenger", arguably the peak effort of a sadly abbreviated career. Missing too was the evocative violin of Sandra Mahlamäki, not yet drafted into the posse, although the musical saw wielded by producer Sami Sänpäkkilä added an appropriate spell to the song "Witchcraft".

The sound of the album is simplicity itself, but with a gray sub-arctic moodiness, like a children's fairy tale gone awry. The bittersweet chords and haunting, hypnotic melodies (with colorful titles like "Singlesparks are Spectral Fires") are equally introspective and aggressive, if sometimes a little too homogenous. Brian Eno may believe that "repetition is a form of change" (quoting from his deck of Oblique Strategies), but the lockstep unison of a song like "The Endless Cycle of Violence" needed a better payoff after six long minutes of escalating monochrome tension.

The intermittent motorik beat recalls the momentum of classic NEU! (more accurately, the secondhand facsimile of bands like Stereolab), almost verbatim in the album closer "Lufthan". Magyar Posse may have been driving a similar highway, but the detours they took were more intuitive, and no less inviting despite the occasional cul-de-sac. Like the road films of kindred Finn Aki Kaurismäki, it's more about the journey than the ultimate destination.

While Finland is more known for extreme metal and dark folk in the 21st century, the country has produced other surprises. One of those comes from the coastal city of Pori where the post-rock band MAGYAR POSSE developed their own unique take on the genre. Although established in 2002 many of the members had been playing together in one form or another for many years prior. With the success of bands like Sigur Ros and Godspeed! You Black Emperor taking the 90s by storm, it was a matter of time before the post-rock style would spread far and wide across the globe and since Finland is a land not overly different from the cold frigid of Siguar Ros' native Iceland, it is not too surprising that this band shares many similarities.

This debut album WE WILL CARRY YOU OVER THE MOUNTAINS is almost entirely instrumental with only a couple tracks finding wordless vocals. "Single Sparks Are Spectral Fires" finds the female vocal charm of Laura Sorvala whereas "Witchcraft," the male counterpart version. The album is unique in that it takes the production sensibilities of Godspeed! and Sigur Ros but marries the post-rock paradigm with more German based Krautrock elements that steer the mid-tempo hypnotic rhythmics which segue into cyclical grooves that are multi-layered with guitar reverb, volatile atmospheric overcast by two keyboardists and lugubrious melodic developments. Comparisons to Neu! are common since the band often utilizes the motorik style of progression that evokes the classic albums of the 70s.

Like most post-rock, MAGYAR POSSE nonchalantly ratchets its way up the intensity scale as it creeps along with the cyclical grooves along with a steady beat, subtle guitar riffing and bass grooves but finds its way to more energetic crescendoes. The album comes off as a really long melancholic arch that's larger than life, sometimes bringing the simplicity of Mogwai to mind and at other times the mood drenched magnanimity of both Godspeed! and Sigur Ros with more varying elements scattered about. The title does indeed sound like zephyr winds carrying you gently over a mountain range with gently atmospheric breezes and rhythmic progressions in no hurry to get you there. While the rock elements are subdued there are ample outbursts into heavier distortion, more energized percussion and overall bombast but for the most part this is a calming journey.

The soundtrack inspired melodies have been compared to those of Ennio Morricone as they create epic tones and timbres that convey a mental portrait of the images they convey. Some tracks evoke a touch a lounge jazz, others fuzzed out Krautrock and at times more hypnotic droning but the main gist is that a rhythmic drive provides the stability and the double pronged keyboard approach delivers a formless synthesized haze. Even a music box is implemented on "The Endless Cycle Of Violence" which ensures a continuous diversity of the otherwise monotonous grooves and unhurried processions. While MAGYAR POSSE would become even more experimental over the years before their ultimate disbanding in 2012, WE WILL CARRY YOU OVER THE MOUNTAINS is quite the accomplishment for sounding utterly unique yet clearly existing within the confines of the post-rock paradigm.

From the first moments of the opener, it's quite clear that Magyar Posse is a band that follows the likes of Mogwai for their general sound, yet also manage to incorporate a lot in each song, definitely being on the more busy side of the genre. The main difference I find between this album and the average post rock affair is the larger focus on building upon simple, cyclical rhythms, rather than solely focusing on creating a particular mood or image.

The album's title and cover art both paint a very accurate picture of what this album will sound like, with sweeping passages that just sound 'big' for lack of a better term. While the opening track, Sleepwalker, doesn't quite show off this element, it definitely displays the hypnotic effect that it can have, with absolutely mesmerising drumming. The next 2 songs are a much closer representation of all aspects of the album however, with the incredible, slowly building crescendos present in great post rock, with an amazing melody that continues appearing throughout, providing both a feeling of melancholy and a feeling of absolute power radiating from it. The band also has a certain krautrock edge to them, extremely present in Pacific Ocean/Death In The Desert, which has a much more psychedelic sound to it than anything else on the album, and is quite rhythmic in nature. My favourite song on the album is without a doubt Untitled, which contains such a wonderfully beautiful melody that I find completely indescribable, before fading away into a breathtaking wordless vocal section. Enemy Within shows the more intense side of the band with a song that just keeps going at full pace. Unfortunately, the final two songs falter to some extent, with Lufthan being somewhat boring, and The Endless Cycle Of Violence building up absolutely menacingly, but not really hitting a conclusive climax, but even so, they're definitely serviceable songs.

Overall, while this album isn't particularly groundbreaking, it definitely separates itself enough from generic post rock to end up being a deeply engaging and enjoyable listen. I think that those who enjoy post rock would find this to be a highly enjoyable album overall, but if you aren't a fan of the genre, this album wouldn't really change your mind, despite its beauty.

Best songs: Witchcraft, Untitled, Enemy Within

Weakest songs: Lufthan

Verdict: This is a wonderful sounding album all around, with great melodic and rhythmic components that sound simply divine. Definitely an album I strongly recommend to anyone who enjoys post rock.