Explosions in the Sky
Take Care, Take Care, Take Care

Release Date: 2011 | Tracklist

"(Take Care) feels different than anything else we've done before and we're very excited for you to hear it."
-Explosions In The Sky

I think Explosions In The Sky must be slightly confused. Either that or utterly deranged. Granted, studio effects are alluring, and Explosions In The Sky have never quite tinkered with them this much. Indeed, progressing from the ‘brave’ leap of faith EITS took in adding piano to All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone the evolution to vocal samples, sound effects, and keyboard could suggest, from a distant outlook, that Explosions In The Sky are forming a new identity. So yes, the band is slightly correct, this album had the potential to be different than any step EITS has taken before. Unfortunately in Take Care, Take Care, Take Care no step is taken at all. If anything, all the glitter shows is how attached Explosions In The Sky are to their long expired style of music.

With that said, Take Care, Take Care, Take Care is more subdued than any project the band has ever tackled before. The frenetic vibrating explosions are often calmed down to a sizzle, making the album seem more like an experiment in pleasant half-baked ambience in parts than a traditional Explosions In The Sky album. Regretfully, the band never explores this direction far enough, because traditionalism is still the major player throughout . 'Last Known Surrounding' builds to the same climax as every other EITS song in existence has built to. 'Human Qualities' as well, despite its initial reluctance, dives into an array of distortion in it’s final minutes. If anything, what gives Explosions In The Sky this slightly new sound is the production, which adds sonic textures underneath the sugary-twisted guitars. These landscapes, although initially intriguing, fail to change anything in any way. 'Let Me Back In', although it introduces itself with delightfully creepy sound effects, soon turns into the same EITS song that we’ve already heard 4 times over. The record, in hindsight, seems to be a tepid attempt to evolve, yet, it ends up so tepid, nothing happens.

To Explosion In The Sky’s credit, the quality hasn’t dropped in any significant way; this is the same beautiful, whirling, music that they have always created, the same music that wrapped around the emotional cortex of your brain in high school and refused to let go. This is the same music that you swore defined love, death, and high school football movies. This is the music that you always played on insufferably long bus rides, and during breathtakingly haunting sunsets. But, unfortunately, high-school is long over, and after years of shooting up Explosions In The Sky, their brand of drug has long lost its original effect. In the end, Explosions In The Sky’s career is analogous to having a one night stand with the same girl five different times, either the relationship evolves, or it might be time you move on. Despite everything, Explosions In The Sky is looking pretty stagnant.

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3.3 great

Rank: #0 for 2011