SMALL YEARS

A band from Serbia which in its (so far) 12 years of existence seldom caught an eye of even most avid post-rock fans, can in fact boast having 2 masterpiece albums in the discography. This second one, is a stupendously composed and executed album that took off where the debut one landed: the intense, exalting, dramatic post-rock in the best GY!BE traditions. That said, although possessing a share of melancholy, it is much less depressing than the great Montreal masters, taking a more romantic side (just look at those song titles!).

When a post-rock bands flirt with these kind of sentiments, most come out dull-ish. "Small Year" is an exact opposite of that. Droney buildups are constantly interwoven with slow, constantly developing, beautiful melodic themes. That might sound usual to this particular style, but at the end of those lengthy songs (most of their pieces clock over 15-20 minutes), you find yourself slowly torn apart by music's sheer intensity.

Still, talking about this kind of abstract music, everything has to be heard to be believed - check this album and it's predecessor on their BandCamp page and chances are you'll get yourself a new favourite post-rock band. It doesn't offer anything radically new, but do we really care about it in post-rock?