it shouldn't be judged as a post-rock album is my point. and it's hardly post-rock. most of the guitar work is simple arpeggiated acoustic guitar chords. more like instrumental indie/folk.

but then again genre arguments are pointless as always. post-rock is such a broad term anyway. this album has a lot of balmorrhea in it in terms of sound.

anyway mroe to the point, i can't believe peolpe are so negative about this soundtrack. it's the most heartfelt explosions in the sky has sounded in years. it reminds me of that "song" they did for the facebook advert last year. that song had so much beauty in it and i feel like a lot of that comes through in this soundtrack. take care was a bit of a blip perhaps, although their were some moments of greatness in that.

i still haven't decided yet whether to treat every review as if it's the first time i've heard a band. i think this review did it for me. i haven't heard it yet, but you do seem to be answering the question "is this a typical EitS album?" rather than "is this a great ambient soundtrack that shouldn't have been released separately?" i mean, take The Road, for example. great soundtrack, but there's not enough in there compared to something like Ruby Sparks or Scott Pilgrim to say "there isn't enough music in here." there's repetition and there's places that drag on, but that's only because the visual aspect demands it.

take this from a rookie reviewer. treat this as though it's not Explosions. treat this as though it hasn't been hyped way beyond measure, as though it's just a good soundtrack to a somewhat-indie film. then give it a higher score.

Album Rating: 2.5

What position are you in to tell me that it deserves a higher score and that its a decent ambient soundtrack if you haven't even heard it yet? And why should I treat this like its not from Explosions in the Sky? Look at it this way, my review was mainly pointing out that this is a huge missed opportunity from a band whose typical music elements could have brought so much more engaging and interesting things to an album of score music than what we actually got.

"What position are you in to tell me that it deserves a higher score and that its a decent ambient
soundtrack if you haven't even heard it yet?"

well, you didn't talk about whether or not it is a decent ambient soundtrack, you talked about the
missed opportunities of the band and how they should have released How Strange, Innocence pt 6.

see, with a score, a band is working with the visual aspect as well, and when that visual aspect is,
rather than the football extravaganza that was "Friday Night Lights," a comedy-drama, you have to
change up your approach. this album can't be what you expect from Explosions because it was not
designed to be. it's something new. it can have cool elements in it, but the fact is, they're not
working with a triumphant sports movie. they're working with a subdued comedy drama.

"Saturday Night Lights"

Made me LOL