Review Summary: A cleansing album to wash away all feelings of doubt and uncertainty you may feel for this band.
Explosions In The Sky have always been a regular source for fans of soaring crescendos, beautiful tremolo and creating visionary atmospheric music. Although for the past decade you could argue that the band’s approach has become perhaps even a little too regular. Since “The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place” was released in 2003, the following albums never really diverted from the path that “The Earth…” lead them on, and for an instrumental band whose music evokes pure exploration of oneself, the notion of that music becoming systematic would dampen your feelings toward each new release.
With their seventh album, Explosions in the sky have lost themselves in the wilderness in order to find themselves again. “The Wilderness” is the journey of their purposeful wandering. It’s a fitting album title too: “a natural environment”; something which remains unchanged and preserved through the course of time. Strip the drawn crescendos and shimmering guitars of the bands past music and you are left in a state of wilderness.
There are an abundance of new, or more prominent features that Explosions In The Sky introduce in their seventh album. The prominence of synthesiser does take precedence in the layered ‘Losing The Light’ and ‘Colors In Space’ to create an cavernous depth the songs which allows each melody from the guitars to breath freely. This spacious nature is essential for instrumental tracks as it allows the music to flow naturally and craft expressive imagery. While the electronics are at the forefront of the album to create ambient soundscapes, they are far from dominant. Synth, guitars and melodies share the stage equally in ‘Logic Of A Dream’ where the yawning bass and rolling drums govern to looming tone and the collapsing synth replicate the unsettling paralysis of sleep with shrouded samples and wails.
The visionary aspect of Explosions In the Sky is still just as potent as ever, some songs are subtle in their portrayals, like the title track, and others are more obvious; like ‘Disintegration Anxiety’. The latter comprises of a concoction of contradictory moods such as frolicking guitars and hallucinogenic chiming to imitate a disorientated attitude that fluctuates between tense and soothing. Perhaps the most picturesque of the 9 songs is ‘Landing Cliffs’ which is a luxurious piece of music featuring twinkling harmonies and ebbing synth which literally creates a panoramic vision of the wilderness Explosions in the Sky are portraying- past events, future desires, present surroundings- they’re all here.
The best thing about minimalism is that it’s universally adaptable. Music that is tailored around a certain theme can only apply to things that are relative to that idea. With this, you can apply it to anything. It’s like a garden- something as ordinary as a garden could be an adventure to a child. “The Wilderness” is not anything ground-breaking for Explosions In The Sky- it’s simply a step in a different direction to explore the comfortable environment that they have build over the years.
