What I'm Listening To

It takes a brave band to open their debut album with a five-minute instrumental that is itself launched with a drum solo and then evolves into something you might expect at a Balkan wedding party, or some Esmerine rave-up. More post-rock than post-punk, For The First Time is a brave and lovely album. Sustenance, is what it feels like. I like this better than black midi’s Schlagenheim, which is the logical place to start with any comparison. There’s something more likeable here, more heartfelt. Slint’s Spiderland must have been on high rotation too, and they admit as much in the lyrics, which tend towards a confessional and impressionistic sort of speak-sing poetry, and in the vocal delivery there’s something of a funereal Conor Oberst. Whatever this is, whichever record shop bin it ends up being filed in, it’s as compelling as anything I’ve heard lately.

Here’s a link to their odd video, Science Fair.