“Post-rock” is a strange term – embraced by those who love it, disowned by most bands labeled with it, used as a pejorative by those who don’t get it, and consistently likened to the same four bands; Emperor, Mogwai, Explosions, and Sigur.
Fourteen Nights At Sea are happy to declare their post-rock influences with album opener “Glass Monster” clocking in at nearly nine minutes, the optimum length for a single-crescendo piece like this.
It’s a track that takes layering and texture beyond a lot of other crescendocore using nuance rather than brash complexity. With an almost harp-like feel in its slowly pulsing waves of tremolo, the guitars wash over you with intense melancholy as they intertwine, and the tension builds and releases on its way to the climax.
There’s more of this feeling on the record and it’s very mesmerising, but there is also great discordant drone, like in “Stalking Horse”, and tracks where it all comes together as in “Country Victoria”.
The production is great with plenty of bass and drums in the mix, keys and synth that form various layers, and a guitar sound that is dynamic and controlled.
Fans of This Will Destroy You will find some familiarity here, but the Australians brings a different outlook and mood, being less intense overall.
In the end there’s a somewhat intangible quality that separates bands from each other in this part of the post-rock galaxy, and Great North sits firmly on the better side of the divide.
