Review Summary: The best journey you've ever had flying through space.
Math rock can often sound too dizzying or cerebral for listeners to enjoy, such as with bands like Hella or Tera Melos. Bands like 65daysofstatic serve as the more accessible side of math rock because their song structures are more reminiscent of post rock, a more familiarized genre that resonates with listeners easier. The Physics House Band’s music is the perfect mix between fast paced jazziness you would hear from a band like Nuito mixed with spacey electronic rock you would hear from Three Trapped Tigers. On
Mercury Fountain, The Physics House Band create a visceral sounding math rock experience that also blends elements of space rock and psychedelic rock.
Clocking in at just under 30 minutes,
Mercury Fountain sounds like the best journey you’ve ever had flying through space. The intro track “Mobius Strip” sets the mood as it prepares you for “Calypso” which does not hesitate to get into the thick of things. The track features tight precise drumming played over intertwining keyboard riffs and loud distorted bass in which the band displays their unique sound and instrumental talents simultaneously. Each track seamlessly transitions into one another which makes the album flow like one movement rather than 9 tracks. If analyzed track by track, some of the tracks may seem like extended interludes such as “Holy Caves” and “A Thousand Small Spaces.” However, it seems intentional that this album was meant to be listened to in one listen because these less developed tracks serve as perfect segues into the tracks that follow them. “Holy Caves” leads into “Surrogate Head,” a hard hitting and more straightforward rock track that sounds like the obvious centerpiece of
Mercury Fountain. At the forefront of this track are guitars that pummel their way into an inevitable freestyle as the drummer only wishes to play faster and faster as this track progresses. It would seem the album has reached its climax at this point, for the next track “A Thousand Small Spaces” makes you think the album is going to take a more ambient direction.
But nah.
This track is only there to let you catch your breath before the beautiful car crash that is “Obidant,” which is the loudest and most spastic track on
Mercury Fountain. The band members reach their peak of playing intensity as they go all out for the entirety of this two and a half minute track. “Obidant” especially displays some out of this world drumming. Before you even know the track is over, “Impolex” grabs you by the throat for three more minutes for the most intense buildup on the album. This track quickly forms into a wall of nearly indecipherable noise if it wasn’t for the pounding bass that carries this track into its explosion that the previous track helped fuel. Our trip ends with the tracks “The Astral Wave” and “Mobius Strip II.” These tracks have the most space-like vibe to them out of the bunch, and feature some fantastic saxophone playing that gently tapers off with the rest of the music as the album comes to an end. Before you know it, you’ve just listened to 9 of the best math rock tracks you are likely to hear all year. Math rock can be an audibly challenging genre, but
Mercury Fountain shows why it can also be a rewarding one. The Physics House Band have produced a concise project that succeeds in showing both the beauty and the chaos of their genre.
