The Ascent of Everest/We All Inherit The Moon - Split

Read my entire review on The Silent Ballet.

Despite the presumed disparity, there are common threads between the two bands. The chamber music of WAItM's closing piece "...and ever. Part III" mirrors the two string players in The Ascent of Everest. The latter band uses ambient bits to create atmosphere in select moments, while the other employs them as a general rule. Where one band remains consistent, the other dabbles, and it unifies the album in a way I didn't see coming. Featuring two different bands with kindred spirits, this release exemplifies the beauty of the two-sided LP. They are like night and light, but combined they create the cycle of an entire day on earth. If these two acts went out on tour together, listener satisfaction would be at a premium.

Lawrence English - It's Up To Us To Live

Read my entire review on The Silent Ballet.

Lawrence English creates soundscapes.It's Up to Us to Live treats the listener to a dynamic world of texture, where tones and organic clutter roam free. Guitars sometimes surface like mysterious ocean-dwelling mammals on a vast, seaweedy expanse, revealing that this laptop dream we are having is populated by real instruments. Like a rainforest, English rarely lets us see the animals we know are there. The soft-focus distortion of the jungle (or music) commands our perception, little details bursting forth everywhere, and on rare occasions an ocelot (guitar line) will dart out from behind a tree and disappear moments later. Reviewing a record like this is as ridiculous as reviewing a particular forest you happen to be enjoying. What would be the point?