Review Summary: A 6 track debut EP that could very well be looked back at as the starting point of a hugely successful post rock career. If you like post rock, just listen to this.
Some bands just know what they’re doing. They are smart enough to actually read the manual, taking the time to understand and appreciate what’s been written, instead of just resigning it to life in the darkest, emptiest, cobweb-ridden corner of their minds. It allows for what seems like effortless maturity and manipulation, in a genre that contains such vast competition, mostly in the form of uninspired and unoriginal copy-cats. Of course, I’m talking about Post Rock. I mean, how you can stand out from a crowd of 1000 quartets, quintets, sextets, all playing the same kind of instrumental rock as you, but with twice as many instruments, seems unfair, and almost impossible. But this is exactly what California based quartet Beware of Safety have managed to do on their first outing with their debut EP,
It Is Curtains.
It Is Curtains made it’s mark on me straight away with the melodic and uplifting “Kaura”, the sound flowing through my ears was one of promise and inspired musicianship, bringing to mind the likes of Scraps Of Tape and Caspian. While “Kaura” sets a hopeful mood from the off, “Weak Wrists” tails off on a tangent completely dissimilar, but equally, if not more so, fantastic. One heavy, heart-pounding riff takes over from a slightly more sinister one, while smashing drums and scattered scratchings set the tone for a truly ground-shaking, explosive track. The one aspect that sets this band above many of their contemporaries however (and even a couple of their peers), is their incredible ability to channel a wonderful range of emotions through the speakers in each of the tracks off this EP. “O’Canada”, especially, managed to skilfully and majestically brave the dangerous journey to the dark, secluded spot in the depths of my essence, switch the lights on and leave the taps running, flooding the empty place with an unfamiliar strength and power, the old jagged windows leaking with hope and prosperity.
A lot of the record follows the tried-and-tested quiet-loud-big, fat-crescendo routine. Stale and overcooked it may be, but the formulaic songs on
It Is Curtains are never boring, and always providing reason for you to curl your lip or tilt your head in appreciation and sometimes even awe. What's great about BoS is that they have managed to crowbar their way into the genre, but subtly and leaving little mess. Influences can be heard throughout their music, but they are no cheap rip-off. The album can be soft and beautiful at one moment, then heavy and soul-shattering the next. The manual written by their peers has been carefully studied, understood and put into practice with such an elegant and mature attitude that you'd be forgiven for thinking that
It Is Curtains was the work of a post rock veteran.
The record as a whole fails to break any ground, but that’s not to say that the band never will. In fact, I would bet my bottom dollar that it won’t be too long before they can be mentioned in the same quality bracket as post rock giants EitS. Nothing here is revolutionary, they didn’t rip up the manual and write a new, better one, but I can guarantee you that the band will evolve at such a rapid speed that if you don’t tighten your grip on their relatively short coat-tails right now, they'll slip from your grasp faster than you can say ‘future post rock giant’.
