The recent full length from Sparrows Swarm and Sing had high expectations to fullfill. Like many, I was expecting an album that for once utilized the old GYBE/ASMZ sounds without just mimicking them -- an album of comparable grandeur and beauty to the "old masters." The band have the talent and the previous material looked promising. Unfortunately, the Magic Bullet debut left a lot of people cold. Fortunately, The Ascent of Everest had been quietly working away in Nashville and made just the album that was needed...
The Tennessee 7-piece draw immediate comparisons to UK stars Yndi Halda with their opening track, but the rest of the album has more similarities to the aforementioned giants, Godspeed You! Black Emperor and A Silver Mt. Zion. The Ascent of Everest check all the required boxes (and some optional) by incorporating recorded speech samples, anguished screams as vocals, and brooding string work to the mix. No, this isn’t always the most original music but it is done so well here – and by a band that are barely 18 months old to boot -- that I can’t help but feel this is going to be one of the best releases the post-rock world will hear this year.
Some will find the familiar ground being treaded on a turn-off, no doubt, though the number of influences and the bands own vision avoid complete plagarism. How many bands can claim absolute originality these days anyway? Saying that, or bringing up that the production lets the music down in loud moments, is really only digging around for negative things to say about a wonderful CD in order to stop this from being a completely sycophantic experience however.
One last piece of praise is the vocals; I’m very much against singing in post-rock for the most part. That said, even though the style here is similar to another style I don’t care for (Efrim Menuck’s), the singing is appropriately done. Generally it manifests in the form of agonized wailing low in the mix; the vocals neither dominate nor lose themself in the layres of instrumentation. Instead they act as another instrument in this glorious cacophony of torturing melancholy.
How Lonely Sits the City is a perfect example of a band taking their influences and creating a new experience by putting their own stamp on it. This isn't a groundbreaking album; however, it is crafted so intricately and smoothly that it's impossible to deny the talent involved here. The Ascent of Everest have put on quite a good first act, and I cannot wait for the next.
-Ian Nicholls