Friends of Dean Martinez - Random Harvest
(Narnack)
Friends of Dean Martinez's brand of instrumental rock is not the standard fare you've been able to find in great abundance on Insound's shelves (and countless indie labels and basically every indie record store in America) ever since Tortoise broke. Instead, you get a band that, despite the fact that it sounds like a backhanded insult, sounds like they'd be just as comfortable on a bill with bar-rock bands as they would with Pullman or Explosions in the Sky. Which isn't to say that they share any of the terrible traits of your average bar-rock band (the required shades-sporting-bassist, poor covers of tired classic rock songs, an abundance of white-boy blues solos, etc). However, the rolling organs, big production and ambitious aims call to mind such monster acts as Led
Zeppelin, The Doors, and Radiohead.
This is a double-edged sword, as the grandeur of some of the songs puts a wall between the listener and the band. For example, Sonna's The Eventual Bow EP has an intense intimacy that Random Harvest lacks. However, the trade-off seems more than worthwhile, as this record stands distinctly apart from the often faceless parade of instrumental post rock bands around. Certain tricks and styles will pop up in completely unrelated post rock bands (the way Sonna and Maserati play their two guitarists off each other, or the way Godspeed you Black Emperor, Mogwai, and Explosions in the Sky all have dynamic explosions, oftentimes punctuated by a quickly strummed lead guitar line). Since most bands have such an inability to look past the present, the distinct similarity between opening track "So Well Remembered" and Ray Manzarek's (The Doors) organ seems so fresh and new. Most bands in the underground would cringe at the mention of such a band in comparison to their own (perhaps Friends of Dean Martinez would), but while this is a dubious comparison, they incorporate that particular element into their music brilliantly.
The album is centered around "Dusk," on which the bands loosens the reigns and it sweeps, builds, explodes, and floats through nearly 12 minutes on a scale that the shorter tracks don't quite approach.
There are plenty of great instrumental post rock albums out there, if that's your thing. But, few of them stand out like this one does. Its markedly different leanings show it to be of an entirely different breed.
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