DATURAH

1. "Ghost Track" begins with spacey distortions and some samples from two or three speeches (from movies?) one a rant from Dennis Hopper's crazed Col. Kurtz historiographer from Apocaplypse Now, before crashing into some very typical Post Rock patterns and sounds. At the 6:00 minute mark we collapse into a very shoegaze-like sequence of dreaminess which then uses military snare playing till the 8:00 mark to climb back to the heights of volume and distortion. Too long and, ultimately, not interesting enough to engage the listener over its entire 12 ½ minutes. 6/10

2. "Hybrisma" is, without a doubt, one of the best Math/Post Rock songs I've ever heard and, IMO, is one of the few recent songs that could point to new directions for the genre to develop and grow (something many people believe is impossible). Voice samples, heavily treated guitars--some foreground, some very far back in the mix, unusual drum patterns/playing (two drummers?) all help build a multi-layered, multi-textured song of deep emotional impact--one with one of the greatest, most emotional climaxes I've ever heard in instrumental music. 10/10 3. For its first six minutes, "9" is a pleasant, hypnotic song with spacey, heavily treated (à la ROBIN GUTHRIE) background guitars, pulsating bass (à la early ADAM CLAYTON) in the foreground, melodies becoming harmonies by the notes' slow, echoed decays. A rather time-less interlude occurs for the next two and a half minutes, during which the song's direction is highly unpredictable. But then, Wham! The song kicks back into drive and then overdrive as several layers of melodic structure weave together before deconstructing into a easy end. Awesome climax! 8/10

4. "Deep B Flat" begins like a CURE "Fascination Street"-era song before quieting down to a structure more familiar of the Post Rock genre. 4:30 witnesses the shift into third gear before the 5:15 mark when the song's sound quite suddenly fades away, leaving the distant echoing of old notes decaying, new guitar arpeggios, and a long excerpt of speech sounding like some broadcast from the astronauts in the International Space Station. Drums and bass rejoin at 7:00. The earlier familiar Post Rock structure returns at 8:00. Nothing new or exciting really occurs until full speed is achieved at the 9:45 mark--continuing without rising any higher (though you want/expect it to do so so desperately) until it's time to cecrescendo for the last minute and a half. A song with so much unrealized potential! 6/10

5. "Vertex" builds very slowly, very quietly, like a PINK FLOYD or PORCUPINE TREE song until the crash guitar chords comes at the 6:00 minute mark. After a minute it quiets down again before the 8:30 mark sees the assault of sound recommence and sustain until it shows signs of cracking at the 11:20 mark, fatiguing to the 12:10 mark when everything comes crashing down to fade. 7/10

Overall a really good album, very listenable and enjoyable with many signs of innovative creativity and ideas yet to come. Keep on proggin'! 4 stars

You'll find all the expected Post Rock tension-and-release crescendos here. But you'll also discover a perhaps unexpected level of compositional nuance and structure, well above and far beyond the standard clichés of the genre. Even at their fuzzed-out loudest this is a very disciplined outfit, with a healthy Teutonic respect for order giving their heaviest moments an air of tightly-managed anarchy.

Texture and dynamics dominate the album, from the haunting opener : Shoal" (with its slow, "Crazy Diamond" intro drone, gradually transforming over sixteen shoegazing minutes into an ecstatic wall of noise), through the evocative chord changes driving the powerful "War Machines", and finally to the aptly-titled "Lovelight", ending the album not unlike a final, glorious burst of sunshine under lowering clouds at dusk.

All three of the long tracks blend together like separate movements of a single 44-minute symphony, entirely instrumental (except for some ghostly voice samples) and in truth more attuned to a psychedelic / space rock aesthetic than anything else.

It would be a shame if such a promising band were to fall into a stylistic rut, always a risk with this style of music. But give them credit for a sterling debut effort, strong enough to build from in the future.

In this self-titled debut this band prefers to take things slowly and with patience letting the spacyness take you for a ride and repetitive guitar lines to show you the way. This album is chuck-full of these ambient sounds and softer guitar parts in which both take most of the space in their songs. Like many guitar oriented post-rock like Explosions In The Sky and Mono, the songs always end up having a crescendo sooner or later and these songs are no exception. In the heavier moments they sound like Isis or other "post-metal" bands, but they always keep that airy feel no matter what (maybe because of the distortion used as ambient background in these parts, but whatever it is it works great). The mood is mostly melancholic almost sounding as if you were lost at space alone with voice-overs echoing in the distance like a desperate call to see if anyone will notice you...

In the end this is a great band that carries all of the traditions of Post-Rock that bands like Godspeed, Mogwai and Explosions In The Sky created. Nothing really innovative or daring. That may be the only problem I have with these guys, they need to take chances and create new paths instead of following the pack, but by no means a bad album to check out (quite the opposite, really). If you're looking for a band like Mono, Mogwai, God Is An Astronaut and others with a spacier, but still powerful sound, then Daturah is the band to check out.

3.5 out of 5