Style: Post rock (instrumental)
Review by: Nick
Country: US-TX
Release date: 17 September, 2021
Something I covered in my post rock highlights is that there are countless up and coming bands putting out an album every single week. The majority of them, sadly, fall short in whatever way. Whether it’s them being melodically bland, structurally cliché, poorly produced, or just boring to listen to, many post rock releases have some problem holding them back. This is something I absolutely cannot say about Driving Slow Motion‘s new release.
Everything you want from a post rock band is here. The production is slick, the songwriting is smooth, and most importantly the melodies are beautiful. Sure you may not have these songs stuck in your head, but when you listen to them you’ll feel the full brunt of whatever emotions you’re keeping deep within. The clever trick of good post rock is that it can be either happy or sad based on what you yourself are feeling. This is something I really believe Driving Slow Motion accomplishes here. And while their melodies and overall songwriting may not be quite up to par with the greats, there’s still plenty of spine tingling moments.
The meat of the songs themselves focus the most on building an atmosphere with tight melodies and compositions rather than meandering and jamming. There are no 15 minute tracks made of the same 5 melodies (as fulfilling as those can be). They don’t risk each song overstaying their welcome. While there is the sort of improvisational flair that’s big with the genre, you can tell each note is carefully considered.
Adrift:Abyss‘s tightness is most notably helped by its runtime. The album clocks in at a brief 31 minutes through 6 songs, almost fitting into the category of an EP rather than an album. While many shorter albums often feel more incomplete, that is certainly not the case here. The band accomplishes a bite-sized post rock masterpiece with each song acting as both a stand alone track as well as a fluid part of a greater work.
They manage this neat flow by playing in different styles of the genre. “Leaves” and “Cathedral Dreams” for example, which play very deep into the traditional sound laid out by bands like Explosions in the Sky and This Will Destroy You, are separated by a largely ambient piece called “Reflection”. “The Fall (The Deep Pt. II)” plays with a more post metal sound with a chugging palm mute build to a distorted climax. Meanwhile “Mariana” keeps that toying with distortion as a central focus, but changes the structure so the explosive part happens early on and largely deals with the aftermath. Then you have the wonderful “Another World” beautifully combining all of these sections into one bombastic closer.
All in all this is a truly solid bite size chunk of post rock bliss. It’s an album I can see myself coming to time and time again from an artist I happily call myself a fan of. It might not be genre defining, but it’s fantastic and will very readily fulfill any need for great post rock you may have.
Recommended tracks: Cathedral Dreams, Leaves
Recommended for fans of: Explosions in the Sky, This Will Destroy You, Man Mountain
Final verdict: 9/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram
Label: Post. Recordings – Bandcamp | Website | Facebook
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