Review Summary: The Calm Blue Sea is a stunning debut from one of Post-Rock's up and comers.
When a genre becomes over saturated its often easy to right it off entirely due to the parity of the bands within it. It happens all the time, a band will perfect a certain sound or go from an underground favorite to a commercial success and will become what the next generation of bands aspires to be. That next generation of bands is now left at a crossroads. Do they build upon their collection of influences and differentiate themselves from the pack, or do they take the easy way out and rehash their record collections?
Hailing from Austin, Texas, The Calm Blue Sea build upon the template laid out by home town heroes Explosions in The Sky by adding some heavier tones and a fuller sound to create one of the better post-rock albums of 2008. Their self-titled debut begins with the glorious We Happy Few. The song moves like a breeze traversing rolling hills. Delicate arpeggios and shimmering leads masterfully navigate perfectly positioned valleys of emotion, each one more grand than the last. This all builds in to the stunning ambiance of Literal. Lush piano work and hushed guitar tones burst into a swelling mass of feedback and distortion driven histrionics that is reminiscent of both Explosions in the Sky at their most uplifting and Pelican at their most violent. On the album's closing piece This Will Never Happen Again, The Calm Blue Sea show off their inner Godspeed You! Black Emperor by opening the track with a muddled audio sample covered by unnerving minor key arpeggios and subdued bass swells before it crests in a furious turmoil of sludgy distortion that would sound right at home on Isis'
Oceanic.
While there are many moments of aural brilliance by The Calm Blue Sea on their eponymous debut, there is one occasion where they stumble. The River That Runs Beneath This City is the album's longest track, and suffers due to its length. The beginning half of the track overstays its welcome by lacking the swells in intensity that personify The Calm Blue Sea at their best. Instead it meanders about a minute too long before it saves itself when it kicks in to high gear with a massive distorted bass riff that backs the loose bluesy jam of the song's second half.
Even though The Calm Blue Sea use the similar guidelines of quiet to loud to quiet to louder that have been scrutinized by some as of late, they do it just as well if not better than most bands currently in the game.
The Calm Blue Sea is a stunning debut from a remarkable band that still has their best years in front of them.
The entire album can be streamed at http://www.last.fm/music/The+Calm+Blue+Sea/The+Calm+Blue+Sea
