Volta Do Mar - At the Speed of Light
(Arborvitae)
Imagine Pele. Now imagine if Pele masturbated four or five times a day instead of only two. Now imagine that Pele didn't think of themselves as skilled artisians but rather as "almost half as good as Eddie." Okay, now stop... this is Volta Do Mar.
Combining a love for almost every post-rock band that came before them with almost exactly no new ideas, Volta Do Mar is your stereotypical circa 2001 new post rock band. Parts of their album sound more like Dianogah, parts sound more like Trans Am, parts sound more like Aerial M, parts really try hard to sound more like the Shipping News, and most everything else just sounds like Tortoise. These influences are not melded or played with but rather faithfully recreated.
Volta Do Mar also treat every song like a technical exercise. They play well, but they are playing more to show off rather than to communicate something or even create something pleasing. If more (any) songs on At the Speed of Light had lyrics, they likely would only be band members saying "I am playing really fast now!" or "Look at me, my hands are moving fast!" or just "Eddie, my home phone number is 555-1212, please call me."
When the songs do have lyrics, a funny thing happens... the band starts to sound like Joan of Arc. Joan of Arc never tried to play anything as complicated as Volta Do Mar's instrumental passages, however Volta Do Mar aren't really trying to do anything other than play something complicated. Replace the arty-overload of Joan of Arc with a compulsive need for skilled craftsmanship, and maybe you end up with Volta Do Mar.
Eddie probably never thinks about what kind of feelings his music invokes. That's probably why for every Eddie you have to have a Diamond Dave. Eddie is the great musician, but Diamond Dave made things not just interesting but fun. When listening to Volta Do Mar, it's quite clear the band is trying their hardest to make their music interesting; it just isn't that fun.
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