Review Summary: can we be kids again?
I don’t think the guys in Pretend fully realize the beauty and solitude found within their newest album,
Circular Ræsoning. I really have no basis for saying this other than a dash of artistic intuition and just an overall
hunch, but anyone who is able to make something as alluring as the last two minutes of ‘Some How’ probably has little self-awareness. Not to be taken as an insult, however, I merely mean this as a way of saying how intricately delicate the song sounds, like a sensual cool, summer’s breeze lulling you into twinkly bliss. It can also be taken as a way of saying that once you make your music public, available for any silent listener to consume, it’s literally impossible to predict how people will react emotionally and to what parts each individual will appreciate. So when lead singer Luke Palascak gently whispers “
somehow you // somehow true // bathed into // somehow you ”, I like to conjecture this reality of obliviousness to the inherent beauty of both the lyrics and the delivery.
But who knows, maybe they know how evocative their music is already. To be fair, math rock is sometimes considered a self-indulgent genre, always toeing that line between charming and gloating. And while Pretend can be categorized under such a label, their music instead toes the line between the likes of Dilute-inspired deconstructive song structures and the emotional groove found in American Football. All three songs thrive in patience, never attempting to build to post-rock apex proportions but rather playfully tinkering with their ideas and subtly shifting things around like a child gently discovering the intricacies of a wind-up toy (think
Hugo Cabret). Each song also quite literally doubles its length, starting at a typical track duration and ending in a 21-minute long anti-opus, which is Pretend at their most experimental. ‘Longer Repose’ sees the four-piece slowly piece together a glistening and bubbly puzzle, only to take it all back apart in the same exact speed and manner. By the time the drums have subtly abandoned any sort of beat, the only thing heard by the listener is the distant yet comforting sounds of drumsticks clacking together, symbols softly hissing, and a snare apprehensively rolling, all combined with chirping guitars fluttering in and out. Yet, they piece everything together again in a completely different fashion, defying the laws of a two-dimensional puzzle and creating something organically new. And that’s how they leave you, in this sort of intoxicated awe. So hold onto to that warm wave of wonderment and never let go.
