I AM RESPONSIBLE

EF is that kind of band that you may fall in love with if it's your first or second encounter to Post-Rock. OK, maybe third or fourth, but not more. They're melodic, up-lifting and enjoyable, but seriously, they have serious problems with finding their own manner. Do they care, after all? 'The manifesto is there's no manifesto' - this was said in a sample somewhere in the beginning of the album, and this should clear up the situation: we don't care for anything at all, we play music.

Anyway, we have two ambient interludes here ('Soon' and 'Appendix'), three epics that hardly differ from each other ('Tva', 'Bear', 'A Tailpiece') and a wonderful (and rather short) mid-tempo track 'Thrills'. If you're a Post-Rock newbie, I can use a complex formula to describe the style in which EF sounds to me (yes, this is only my subjective opinion, no offence): take EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY and mix it with SIGUR ROS. For those, who get along well with Post-Rock, I'll use another description: IMMANU EL. Yes, EF sounds EXACTLY like their Scandinavian brothers-in-arms IMMANU EL, the same way 'GREGOR SAMSA meets YNDI HALDA' mellow thing, with no darkness thrown in, only pastoral major harmonies and crescendoes, filled with light. But even climaxes are subtle; guys, if you want to make your climaxes more powerful, ask MONO from Japan ;) So, where do we go from here? Cliched and boring Post-Rock, built on standard chord progressions and good old tricks derived from other bands...but this is where mind stops working. If your heart turns on, then any word about EF's (or YNDI HALDA's, or JOHNNYTWENTYTHREE's, you continue!) manner or style is meaningless: you either love this music or hate it. I've found myself somewhere in between: good stuff, but heard many times before; must work on me, but it doesn't; recommended, but beware.