IN A COLD EMBRACE

Thus far I have found 2012 to be a less-than-stellar year for new music. With In a Cold Embrace, BATTLESTATIONS has synthesized a true masterpiece of progressive rock music, only the third of the year, according to my reckoning (Anglagarde and Kotebel being the other two).

Very cinematic, a bit trip-hoppy à la MASSIVE ATTACK, with a little COCTEAU TWINS shoegaziness thrown in, and then, of course, follow Post Rock/Math Rock formats, and you have the formula for the majority of In a Cold Embrace. I think what I like most about this music is that if I were still creating music, this is exactly the kind of music I would want to be creating.

1. "Prologue: Nature Morte/You're Not Welcome Here" (10/10) is my favorite song on the album. This song sounds as if it could have been taken straight off of an old LOBOTOMY BROTHERS CD, probably their first one, Live! But Just Barely or their second, the out-takes EP, Partial Lobotomy. "Prologue" begins like a wonderful Spaghetti-Western soundtrack. At the 4:25 mark the song shifts with the introduction of a repeating sequence of two 'orchestra hit' chords from the synthesizer around which the other instruments (rolling Cocteau Twins- like bass, treated acoustic and electric guitars, programmed drums, and percussives) dance. At 7:15 things change again. A baribou-sounding instrument sets the pace of the new equally slow rhythm and is accompanied by fast-oscillating flanged guitar strums, voice samples, slow-picked guitar melody, and, later, drums (they sound live but could also be programmed) and background synth sounds. This is cinematic, meditative, background music heaven.

2. "Comrade/The Way We Grieve" (10/10) could be another very effective cinematic theme song. Military march drumming lays the groundwork over which guitars and synths are added, layered, throbbing, buzzing, and zinging their melodies. At 5:10 every thing slows down, fades away to allow the establishment of a new lineup of instruments playing in a new key, watched by a whale-sounding guitar, before a melody-supporting chord sequence is formed, over which a delayed guitar plays a very beautiful, very emotional melody. Synths and additional guitars join in after the eight minute mark to fade. Stunningly gorgeous.

3. "Interlude: Time Stands Still" (9/10), at two-and-a-half minutes in length is the album's shortest piece, but it is a beautiful one, with heavily effected guitar crooning out another slow but emotional melody. Once again, it sounds like it came right off the 1988 Partial Lobotomy CD.

4. "Breaking Bad News/The Faces We Remember" (9/10) is a very spacey, airy song sounding almost like an ambient Fripp/Eno or Eno/Budd experiment with the interplay of various effects and delays--until the 3:40 mark when a synth wash chord progression and electronic drum track enter and establish some drama. At 5:15 a full drum and bass rhythm section join in sounding very much like a COCTEAU TWINS instrumental. Awesome. Ends with the same sparse ambient themes and instruments of the beginning.

5. "The Semblance of Fate/Citizen Creep/The End" (8/10) begins with some piano (treated à la HAROLD BUDD et al.) in yet another cinematic theme. At 2:30 piano stops leaving some atmospheric synths to float around in the background while what sounds like the treated (reversed?) voice of a female London Underground PA speaker voice makes some (to me) unintelligible announcements. Once she stops, a new theme with new instruments is developed, coming to full force with a fast-paced drum program (I think) livening things up quite a bit. At the seven minute mark, the music stops leaving a repeating piano arpeggio to bridge into the next section which does, in fact, sound like the band--or film--is trying to say good-bye (except this is the second section, "Citizen Creep"). Beautiful, like a French romance. The final two and a half minutes are very much like each instrument is going to sleep--or trying to put you to sleep.

Each of the past five years has revealed a stunningly beautiful album from the Post Rock/Math Rock sub-genre which gives me faith that the sub-genre has not been 'played out' that, in fact, fresh ideas and creative variations are being made to keep the Post Rock/Math Rock sub-genre alive and moving forward. In 2008 Hamburg's DATURAH gave us Reverie, in 2009 came APPLESEED CAST's Sagarmantha, in 2010 we had not one but three brilliant Post Rock/Math Rock releases: COLLAPSE UNDER THE EMPIRE's The Sirens Sound, MY EDUCATION's soundtrack tribute to F.W. Murnau's 1927 silent movie, Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, and GIFTS FROM ENOLA's Gifts from Enola, and last year, 2011, we had Australia's SLEEPMAKESWAVES' ...and so we destroyed everything. I am so thankful for these beautiful albums--and for the Post Rock/Math Rock sub-genre.