UNTIL SUNRISE

It opens with "Driving Down the Golden Highway", which actually starts with a heavy sound, but later it becomes gentler with the violin sound. This time Until Sunrise added a new guitar player, and also the violin has strengthened its importance on the band, you will notice it. Both instruments (guitars and violin) will make you feel trapped into Until Sunrise's world, and be fulfilled with emotions that are perfectly complemented by drums and bass, of course. "The Elysian Fields" is a beautiful song they composed and released as single years ago. The heavy side of their sound vanishes here, instead, we listen to cute, melancholic post rock that may remind you of Mogwai.

"Frozen Stars / Up Autumn Hill" is an addictive and challenging track that offers the soft and the heavy sides of Until Sunrise, and I like how they manage to make those abrupt changes without harming the music, I mean, you are listening to a soft melody with hypnotizing guitars and then all of a sudden the music gets explosive, with some guitar distortions, but you keep listening and enjoying it, because you have embraced it. After five minutes the music changes, seems that a new structure is being built up, a spacey atmosphere appears and we can enjoy a couple of chaotic minutes. But then, a short pause, silence, guitar appears softly and then the other instruments join and it all starts again. Wonderful!

"On the Second Story" is a nice short song that brings acoustic passages that might work as an interlude. It is nice, and maybe it has a special meaning to the band, but I would have not included it, honestly. After this short weak passage, the music returns to its best with "Perry Smith (Driving Down the Frozen Highway)", a 9-minute track whose sound produces a lot of emotions, the piano is repetitive, drums create some tension and the bass sound is simply amazing here. The first three minutes are in the same path, but then it makes a sudden change in which violin adds its charm and the atmosphere morphs into a relaxing journey where symphonic prog and post rock meet. But as you can imagine, later they introduce new sounds, new nuances and a rich blend of noises and emotions, letting us know about their great compositional skills.

The longest track is "At the Splinters on the Bridge", a composition that catches your attention since the first seconds. The first two and a half minutes are a bit tense but exciting, I love the drums here and the different figures that strings introduced; that starting passage might be one of my favorite moments from the whole album. Then the music changes, it is an experimental post rock sound with hard bass notes and moments full of energy in which Dorsey delights us with the keyboards. Then another contrast, a short stop and seems a new song begin with soft guitars, like if they decided to put together different songs into this one. Then the song flows, progresses and little by little it becomes more intense, leaving for moments the post rock fields and touching other styles, you will notice it when the guitar solo appears. This is a very good song, but not the best, though it is challenging I believe it is uneven in moments, so in some passages I had to say my attention was lost. Frozen Stars finishes with "Down Autumn Hill", another short piece in which we can appreciate both acoustic and electric guitar in a very melancholic way; later piano, percussion and violin join and all together say goodbye to the listener.

Though the last part of the album did not leave me that happy, I think overall this is an excellent release, definitely a work that I will listen frequently and recommend to my friends, and I hope Until Sunrise keeps doing this great effort and maybe in the near future they'll give us an unforgettable work of art. My final grade, four stars.

Enjoy it!

I liked Pink, As the City Quietly Sleeps, A Maudlin Interlude, and Nostalgic Moment the most, but the whole album is wonderful. Not recommended for every prog fan though: this is a very niche band. This is where I understand where the other reviews are warranted

4.2 of 5 rounded up. (because it's growing on me, may re-review if necessary)

Until Sunrise is a young US post band whose first self-titled album was released in 2010, but the one I am reviewing now is the re-release with the alternate name of "Oxide Tones", here it features ten compositions that make a total time of 75 minutes, so yeah, it is a long album. The music here is post rock in its soft, mellow side, with instrumental tracks that create beautiful atmospheres, calm passages and peaceful moments.

The first song is entitled "Sunset", and since this piece I could say Until Sunrise shows us their style and musical tendency; the music starts softly but then it flows and little by little becomes more intense, creating that inherent emotional sound in post rock acts. "Pink" is one of the longer tracks of the album, reaching the ten minutes. The first moments are calm, smooth and relaxing, later it progresses and more elements can be heard, however the music in my point of view never reaches a climax, never explodes, in spite of that weird guitar riff after four minutes. So despite it is a good composition, I expected a moment of seduction, a nucleus, and it may has it, but I simply did not find it.

"Midnight" starts with drums, later bass, guitars and the atmospheric synth join and create a nice and mellow track. It later takes us to "Insomnia" which has a kind of funky guitar that creates a funky post rock sound. Before reaching two minutes the music becomes a bit crazy, they change the direction and try to experiment, but in my honest opinion, the result fails because it does not attract me at all. Anyway is a nice try, it is always good to experiment, not all people dare to do it, but well, sorry guys I did not like this particular track, though its second half is much better.

Until Sunrise surprises us with a challenging 23-minute song in their debut album, something that has to be applauded just for the fact they were capable to compose it. The name is "As the City Quietly Sleeps" and it really starts as softly as if people were sleeping or getting relaxed, that's the good news, the bad news is that all of a sudden after three minutes they wanted to wake up everybody and make a drastic change into a much heavier sound, which is out of place in my opinion. Later it becomes rockier, not that heavier, but the experimentation does not seem to end because they create mini-songs in this whole track, I mean, we can appreciate different passages, some of them are pretty cool, some others aren't, the heavier ones in particular, which actually sound really amateurish and as I said, out of place.

"A Maudlin Interlude" is one of the shortest compositions, with two and a half minutes of acoustic guitar, delicate percussion, some piano notes and a complementary harmonica, sweet. "Sunrise" is a nice track that starts with a dark atmosphere that later is becoming lighter. Here we can listen to a combination of both, acoustic and electric guitar, accompanied by drums and bass, as usual. The acoustic feeling continues until the song finishes, but also continues in the next track entitled "First Signs of Summer" which happens to be the shortest of the whole album. This three-song part of the record seems to be contrast with what the band offered in the previous tracks, which is not bad at all, but it is also an indication that they are trying to find out their own identity, their own sound.

The album finishes with "Nostalgic Moment" and "Another Nostalgic Moment", two songs that judging by the title may perfectly work together. The music is mellow, relaxing and beautiful mainly due to the piano; later it becomes a bit heavier and more emotional, but here it perfectly flows, it is not forced like previous tracks. In the second nostalgic moment I can listen a better quality mainly in the bass, though the music is practically the same, they could have made a 14 minute track instead of these two, but anyway, I believe this is my favorite part of the album.

I cannot deny the trio has talent, these guys are working hard and one really appreciates that, however, I invite them to work even harder because I am sure they have more to learn offer in the near future. This album shows the first steps, but now I expect their upcoming productions with surely more mature stuff. My final grade will be 2.75 rounded to three.

Enjoy it!

Until Sunrise are a young and promising post-rock band from United States who so far have released one studio album, one (this) live album and one single. It is cool to see that new and talented bands are receiving help in order to be better known and recognized, cool to know they took a radio show (I believe) as a platform, so one can appreciate how they sound live.

This "Live at WDIY 88.1" album features six songs (actually four) and a total time of 36 minutes. It opens with "Sunset", which also opens the studio album, it is a nice track with atmospheric and emotional guitars, cool drums and a warm sound overall. The last minute is faster, louder and even more emotional. But well, have to say that it clearly sounds cleaner in studio.

"Watching the Clock" has a soft but exquisite guitar sound at first; a minute later it (as the previous track) turns faster, louder and more emotional. A thing I love is that guitars never disappear, we can listen to the as fore or back, but they are always there with something to share.

"Nostalgic Moment" clearly shares what the title suggests. Here I like a lot that piano sound, which is the one that I am sure people will remember about this track. In spite the song begins too slow, after a couple of minutes it becomes more and more interesting, so hold on and do not skip it, better wait until the very end. The fourth track is simply the "station ID", needless to say.

"As the City Quietly Sleeps" is the big composition here, the original can be found in their studio album as a 23-minute epic, but here it is a shorter 17-minute version. This is a challenging track that let us know that this band really have talent and future things to offer. However, I have to admit that there are moments where I lost the track, I mean, moments where the music did not share anything new, so I got bored for some seconds; that was the bad news. The good news is that most of the time I was expecting something, excited to see what would happen next, because the I let the music take me to wherever it wanted to be.

The last track simply shows the reactions of the people who were there, nothing more. Kudos for Until Sunrise, I am sure we will hear their name for several years, hope they keep together and have success. For this live album my final grade will be three stars.

Enjoy it!

Nowadays we may say that post-rock is a musical genre that has gained a lot of followers due to its fresh sound and emotional atmospheres. Also, there are people who find inspiration in this genre, and contribute with their grain of sand. A young band from Maryland has now entered to the scene, and they are willing to stay there for a lifetime and of course, obtain recognition and followers.

With the internet facility, I have got closer to them since they offer their music for free (or pay what you want); and I am happy with what I listen. Until Sunrise is a trio who have released one studio and one live album so far, along with this latest single release of the song entitled "The Elysian Fields".

This five-minute track shares some evident Explosions in the Sky hints, which may have been one of Until Sunrise inspirations. The song has a beautiful sound with atmospheric textures, relaxing guitars, soft drums that little by little become more energetic until it reaches a climax. There is also a nice piano sound here and there, while the guitars turn emotional as well.

The song itself deserves at least three stars, but if you know the way I rate singles, then you know I hardly give more than two stars for an album that does not reach 20 minutes. So for a song, I just give two stars.

Enjoy it!

Elysium Fields is the newest single by the young Maryland-based post rock band Until Sunrise. Comprised of a pleasant and slow crescendo through the entire track, it has a nice feeling and a nice atmosphere. I've stated numerous times I'm no fan of post rock; the music, in my opinion, is usually a boring waste of sonic energy, comprised of relatively repetitive ostinatos with tremolo guitar picking as an excuse for "ambient guitar." However, this song is a slightly pleasant surprise. Although this has a similar formula as most post rock, there are little things added in to the song, such a nice piano theme in the middle and a nice crescendo into a dramatic and releasing burst of energy. Overall, while still a typical post rock track that I'm not all that fond of, this single is a good output (and has great production, which is not seen on their debut) by this young band. 3 stars.

Until Sunrise is a new post-rock outfit from Maryland that released an independent studio album last year to mixed reviews (I think I made the "mix"). Seeing as it was independent, the recording quality and mixing was, to say the least, really bad. Now the music itself was great, with some nice creative passages, and more interesting songs, but also meandered into the abyss of post-rock monotony at some points. But away from their last album, this short little "live" EP (it's really a live in the studio album) has much more professional mixing, which brings out the richness to their music that I missed on their studio release, even the "remastered" version. Of course the album still can lose you in the trackless sees of post-rock, but the songs, with better production and a crisper sound, make this release a nice little EP.

Sunset was one of those overly-traditional post-rock songs from their last album, and sadly, the production, as guitarist Joe Dorsey says, is a little "hairy" due to the engineer having some problems. But, it is still better! From this version, I can actually hear with clarity some of the atmospheric qualities that the band had put into the song. The music now seems a little less like fuzz and a little more like tangible music. Overall, the music is still a little weak, but the production is better, so so is my enjoyment!

Watching the Clock is exciting because not only is it a new track, but it shows promising signs for new, better material for future releases. The track drops a lot of the outlandish bombastic backings to the guitar melodies when they aren't welcome and welcomes in a really nice soft drumming that fits perfectly as the guitars crescendo and distort, giving the monotonous post-rock a really nice twist of interest. Again, the track shows a lot of promise for a future release, especially if the compositions stay similar to this.

Nostalgic Moment is nice, especially with the highly increased production value. The audio seems crisp and professional, and so does the music that is playing! (Always a good thing). As I said in my review of the studio album "The melodic work with the piano is creative and enjoyable," especially in contrast to the guitars and drums (which in my opinion still seem a little too much, but seem to have gotten a lot better).

Now just so my OCD doesn't go crazy, I'll "review" (stadtion ID) and (reaction) together: station ID is just saying what the radio station is, and (reaction) is just what the people in the studio said after the band stopped playing, which was essentially just small talk, and the musicians complaining about how bad their instruments were. It seems really out place though, because I don' think anyone should really hear what the musicians thought of their performance, because it alienates the music.

As the City Quietly Sleeps is the mammoth of of their studio track. 23 minutes off the album, it was huge for a post-rock song, and was better than most sleeping pills. However, on this release, the band shortens it to17 minutes, and the production allows what is being played to actually be heard! Yay! A lot of the intro I didn't even know existed because it was so quiet on the studio album. The track is highly enjoyable to listen to all the way through the 17 minute length, much unlike the studio record. Soloing and instrumentation seem to have tripled in skill and ease of playing, and because of this the whole song sounds so much better. I don't know if it was even on the studio record, but the violin is a great touch. Overall, this song is one of my favorites on this album, when it was my least favorite on the studio.

ALBUM OVERALL: This radio appearance really isn't a live album. The songs are at a much higher production quality than the studio album, and from this much more of the physical music can actually be heard. The one new track is fantastic, and shows promise for the band, but sadly some of the tracks replayed from the studio album still have that twinge of monotony and traditionalistic post-rock that makes the tracks still a little boring. Sadly from this I couldn't really rate it what it could have been. It is a very high 3 star album, but not quite a 4 star. The band is getting there though! 3+ stars.

sunset- a nice long build up to introduce the album. the delay guitar is used very nicely. the build up may be a little long for my liking loking at how quickly it fades out but overall good opening statement 5/5

pink- very nice intro witht he etheareal effects in the guitars. Watch out fr the drum fills i.e. hitting rims and other extraneous attacks Another comment for drummer make sure there is a dfference in your ghost note volume and your actual attacks. the big hit it great guys nice work. For future reference lets be more committed to the metronome there are some laxidasical moments, guitar solo is great! the hi-hats seem a little offesive to me either turn it down or the drummer should now ht so close to the bell of the cymbal on open hits (can you tell im a drummer? =]) once again be commited to the timing in your fills second big hit at about 7:18 is great guys great groove! XD. Drummer, dont get aheaad of yourself on these fills dude remember that sometimes less is more-especially with post rock. overall pretty sick song guys i can see why it has been played on som eprog radio stations this one gets 4/5

midnight- very nice drummer! way to redeem yourself!my only request is that you incorperate more dtynamic control very cool intro here. the main theme is very nice! one thing i will say about the guitar work is be carful on what you layer its not quite busy but almost. AHHHH hi hats are so over bearing at 2:15! at 2:50 the hit is aweomse loving the drum groove here but as you go dont go nuts sir dorsey i would suggest more quick attacking cymbals so it doens ring over too much 3:59 blew my mind a little very cool. Overall this song gets a 5/5 ffrom me

Insomnia- Ok guy something a littel different i like it! i like sam's china =] there are some timing issues going on here. i suggest for the record you guys dont settle on these drum tracks. it seems that you just went with the first or second take and the tracks suffer from that. Loving 2:30. Bass player. . . nice! This track as a whole illustrates insomnia flawlessly. 4:00 goes back to the more traditional until sunrise sound with the "maybe ill try to go to sleep theme" but we continure to get get more and mre restless as the track comes to a close. this is by far my favorite track! 5/5

As the City Quietly sleeps- the epic of the album aat an outstanding 23 minutes. very calm intro which contrats greatly with the preceding track. drums, watch that met! wow guys nice nice. Dnt abuse the ride cymbal haha. the tapping section is very cool however some simplifying may be in order in the ride bell groove a tip there think about the half note rather then the quarter note. nice nice bass solo here! the reprie of the main theme has a new found energy that i love. as the frst part comes to an end we have a very eerie section but i like it a lot. this section reminds me of some early rush! good work! this slow section is awesome, but i can see where the average listener could get a little bored of it. I, however i am a fan.i love the violin solo beautiful! great tune guys! 4/5

Maudlin Institute- A nice change of pace with acoustic guitar. love the bells and other calm yet powerful nuances used here beautiful song 5/5

Sunrise- The epitomy of quiet intensity. then the big hit is fantastic! awesome awesome awesome guys. this song depicts the progress of the concept with perfection! 5/5

First signs of summer- you guys really know how to take a constant "sound" and make it unique while its all the same. Thats a great quality and it show with this track! 5/5

Nostalgic Moment- Here we are with the closer. Neat bass intro dude and great tone, guitars. Drums stick with that tempo! Vey pretty piano playing! Wow! Nice build up with that piano riff!great bass tone throughout very nice guys!

Overall i give this album a 4/5. general comments: great sound, great tones, work on simplifying the percussion orchestration and be more careful when tracking! However keep up thet great work and look forward to the second album not to mention Joe's other band Ocean Architecture! Rock on!

Long thematic somber pieces of music, bordering to funeral dirges. This is normally Sigur Ros's domain. But this scene has been crowded lately. Until Sunrise, some shoe gazing young men from USA, has also converged on this scene with this album.

This is a remastered version of their original version. The re-mastering here is not a success, I have to say. The sound is still a bit soggy. The music is long thematic songs with little variations. Sigur Ros has proved that there is a large market out there among the youths of today (yes, I am an middle aged man) and I am sure this band will find a willing audience with their music.

In all fairness, this album is a good album. It floats on the strength on the melodies and the changing moods. Which change from somber to rather brutal, contrast filled moods. The instruments is both acoustic and harsh electric guitars + tangents. There is no vocals here whatsoever. The bass is also very much present in the soundscape. A sound I would call reflective.

My main gripe is the lack of some really great melodies and the lack of variations. Besides of that, this album is good but not everyone's cup of tea. It is good music for silent frostbitten winter evenings......... until sunrise.

3 stars