Who put the bop in the post-shoe bop-a-rock? Well, there’s no bop in post rock. So nobody. Listen, are you messing with me? Because if you are…
I went through a mega post rock phase, where Godspeed and EITS were, like, the pinnacle of music. I loved them. I still do – the soft spot is still soft, like a bruise on an apple that you poke until your finger pierces the mush. My mushy insides are reminded of those golden days by Ce Qui Nous Traverse, “Who We Are” when translated from French to English by Google Translate, a Montreal (duh!) post rock outfit who are all about guitars, drums, and strings. This is too easy. They occupy the exact same space that good post rock outfits occupy, the spot where you can get lost in the reflection of creeping moral decay and then get angry at it – default response. You translate the music to anger, which is then carried via synapses through your body. Dynamic shifts? Check – tension to catharsis. Genre interpretation? Check – track two is highlighted by mournful strings, track three is carried by bluesy guitar sometimes reminiscent of Pink Floyd. Tracks one and four find themselves in territory that calls to mind Red Sparowes a bit (track one) and Set Fire to Flames (four). In all, Des Lignes is a nice throwback to all the lengthy, intense sessions I had wandering around city streets with myriad post rock records blaring through my earbuds, trying not to look anyone in the eye for whatever reason. It’s a great place to visit sometimes. Just know that there will be no bopping, ever. Head-nodding, maybe, but no bopping. There is no spring in the step of Ce Qui Nous Traverse, and we shouldn’t have it any other way.
Ce Qui Nous Traverse
Cuchabata Records
-- Ryan Masteller
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