ALL WILL BE QUIET

Like compatriots VIMMA, Finland's ALL WILL BE QUIET (AWBQ) has concocted an amalgam of indie pop and prog rock, but each diverges in the aspect of prog that fascinated them, with VIMMA tending to the grassy side and AWBQ wading into the post rock pool. In both cases the result is most listenable, but, while VIMMA has accumulated a small following since their 2019 debut, AWBQ appears to have thrown in the towel sometime after their only full length release in 2012. However, their inaugural and eponymous debut EP from 2010 is the subject of this review.

While the song arrangements tend to the high end as the subdued jangly pop style goes, each track tends to be capped off with a restrained post rock frenzy where the individual elements are still discernible, with the best example being the emotional "Let Her Live". At times the two are intermixed more imaginatively, as in the sparkling "Tomorrow". Then you have "Washed Away", so good they reprised it on the subsequent album, where the main mellotron riff of the "Court of the Crimson King" makes its umpteenth appearance since 1969, this one in vocal form, before an extended guitar led outro that is much less familiar but most enjoyable. Shockingly, the idolatry is reprised on the very next and final track, which is the one named for the group and the album. In case you needed another reminder, it's right at the outset for good measure. I tease mostly though, as I think I kind of secretly want to hear that snippet every time I listen to any music, or even watch an epic hockey game, or especially a mundane one. Still, then, could they not have clipped the "Epitaph" or "Poseidon" melody instead of repeating themselves?

I'm more than satisfied. Neither earth shattering nor over the top, this act has cemented a modest but appreciated legacy even if they remain silent thenceforward.