Do Make Say Think - Persistent Stubborn Illusions (2017)

Do Make Say Think - Persistent Stubborn Illusions (2017)

I stumbled upon this group a few years back when I was on a music odyssey. This is their first album in 8 years, so I'm pretty excited. Unless there's some mass departure from these mugs, we should have a solid instrumental/post-rock type of thing happening here. Should be interesting for a live review.

War on Torpor : Ooooh a really nice build into some quick drums. There's so much sound in the first 30 seconds. It's building to a high crescendo and I don't think I'm a minute in.. Okay, whew a plateau. Otherwise, I think my head might have exploded. The bass drum is coaxing the back sounds through and allows another string (not a banjo, but something) into the forefront. Oh wow, I really like how this is featuring sound. There was this insane building cacophony of sound and then this deconstruction. This track has such a fast tempo that there's no time to linger on the featured sound, but there are these distinct, clean breaks that strip out sound here and there that really bring your attention to the individual elements. Wow. Pretty rad first track.

Horripilation : Nice transition into track two. Just coasts right in, but it's clear there's a different tenor here. Some nice strings moving us along. These two songs leave little time to rest. They are pulling you right through the song. Some really soothing guitar work here. The way the guitar and drums are playing off each other here is exquisite. They are building into each other and what started as a two entities has built into a single theme.. and then the guitar drops out. The transition into some high keyboard sounds is lovely. The drum isn't overpowering here. They are working so hard to demonstrate mastery over a sound transitions and they are fucking killing it. The distorted fade out into some chirps feels like a trope of the genre, but they bring in the overpowering dirge of an organ sound. It's not the end of the song - it's a transition. I'd say it's a lull, but the tempo doesn't give you room to breath even though you want to take a moment to soak in that brooding organ. Oh what a supreme move back into an up tempo drum and guitar. We are two songs in and I'm so excited to listen to this album again (specifically this track). Oh this song won't go quietly. It's taking me back down, stripping it all down, but keeping tempo. The movement of sound and bit parts of instruments just draw my focus. I can hardly type with these loops. I had to check. That was 10 minutes and 27 seconds of joy. I cannot wait to get in my car and blast this track.

Murder of Thoughts : A slow intro. This doesn't have the up tempo movement of the previous two songs, but rather a stroll along the guitar. Some waning guitar fades that remind me of Pink Floyd's Echoes or Meddle. It's that waxing/waning space sound that is covered by easy guitar twangs. The Pink Floyd influence here seems pretty strong. This track feels like the albums attempt to slow you down after fury of the first two songs. If that's the song's task, it does it's job. Not unpleasant.

Bound : Picking guitar intro. Lightly though - there's not a sharp pick here - probably more of a soft touch. Then a nice transition from the high strings to a bell-like sound and our drum softly enters. Oh nice.. the drum is a herald for the movement into some synth type of sounds. The drum is such a nice moving compliment to the twinkling lights. Just like that, I've been walked into a wall of sound. I can still hear the twinkling underneath and then.. as sudden as the wall appeared it has been removed. Just the twinkling. Wow, it's back. These transitions are excellent. Somewhat abrupt, but I feel guided into the transitions so that it's not out of place. Really nice loops.

And Boundless : Tricky movement between songs. I happened to glace down after a change in tone and noticed the song change. Otherwise, it might slip by. This is much harder and droning sound. Up tempo with short loops. There's so much that can be accomplished in these transitions and the band is coaxing every bit of attention out of me. This song rolls right along. I need to listen to these two tracks (Bound - And Boundless) in isolation and then again together, I think. There's a movement in And Boundless from the beginning to end that sounded like something from Bound, but I need to go back over it. Alas, that's not the way of a live review. For now, I am intrigued by the connection of these two songs that I want to spend more time listening here.

|| pause in the action ||

Her Eyes On The Horizon :  This track is a tumble. The sounds are falling and rolling over each other, but in a good way. The ebb and flow of the song is really smooth. I don't really feel like any of the sounds are out of place or are introduced for no reason. Usually, I can get a stronger understanding of the song on instrumental tracks after a few solid listens, but we don't have that luxury here. Off the cuff, I can see why this track appears after the two previous songs. It's good, but didn't grab me like the previous tracks. That could be because of the pause, but I'm not sure.

As Far As The Eye Can See : Hot dog. Oh this is some sexy sound building. The far away talking guitar and a close up. This song feels like they are playing with aperture through sound. Which makes sense given the title of the song. I dig it when a song title really seems to fit, and this one does. There's movement all over the place with the guitar, but it's not overwhelming. It's just a guide. The guitar is taking you through each section with some foundation. Other than the drums, it's unified this track so far. What a song. I don't know how they edit this stuff, but this is beautifully executed. What a great track. Might be up there with Horripilation for top track on the album so far.

Shlomo's Son : Solo piano with a guitar string slap to start. On an album like this, a stripped down sound of a piano can really feel intimate. This is so sparse compared to the other tracks. There's a wispy sound that must be a violin, but is close to a theremin, but not quite a singing saw. Whatever it is, it's working for me. The slow tempo, piano, and wispy whine of drawn out sound really begs you to slow it down for a moment. An odd ending though. Some glitchy hiccups to close.

Return, Return Again : Two electric guitars working out. A nice rhythm is establish and you can feel the break coming. There it is, but gone almost immediately. There's some left overs and it trims down. That had to be an introduction. Pairing down and boom. Yep, this is a solid closing track. This song feels like closing up shop. They are walking down sounds, but putting a lot of the album's work on display. The technical proficiency here from both the musical and editing standpoint has to be pretty damn good here. I don't know anything about how to do either of those things, but I do know that not many albums pull this kind of thing off well.

All in all, I give this a 4.75 posts out of 5.38 rocks. Really liked the first time through. I'm going to roll it back through right now.