Though it has only been two short years since Glaswegian post-rock-electronicers Errors released their debut album ‘It’s Not Something But It Is Like Whatever’, Errors have not been idle, and the fruits of their two-year labour, ‘Come Down With Me’, is ready to roll and, um, post-rock. Considering the glacial conditions in which it has allegedly been created, it’s possibly one of the warmest records you’ll hear this cold, cold March and one of the danciest supposedly post-rock albums ever.
I say ‘supposedly’, because though elements of the big PR are definitely there (big build guitars, spectacular soundscapes, epic time signatures etc.) but this is not a just a post-rock album – you’ve got math, indie, electronica, high energy, cowbell… lots of cowbell. This is a tasty platter of world cuisine.
From ‘Bridge and Cloud’s gentle opening crackle of static and paper, guitars screech into place and synths open up beneath a canopy of fast beats. Kraftwerk magic dwells in the melody and Mogwai mood in the guitar solos – a synergy of post-rock and krautrock, a handshake across the decades that dances with such exuberance in your ears. Even Friendly Fires couldn’t match this groove.
From Germany we head for ‘A Rumour in Africa’, blending eight bit incidental music with township guitar before sliding into the francophilic ambience of ‘Supertribe’, a collaboration between early Orb and Air whilst still lifting Kraftwerk’s ‘Spacelab’ riff hook line and sinker. I’m not sure if this is an album or a travelogue any more.
‘Antipode’ sets the flow in reverse and drops the beats, allowing slabs of rhythm to bump together majestically beneath a John Carpenter soundtrack. Now the hooks are in place it’s time to settle down to some gentle experimentation and ‘Erskine Bridge’, with it’s loops of synth and found sound is the perfect soothing come down to the beat laden opening. Unfortunately the apologetic ‘Sorry About The Mess’ is a bit of a bog standard post-rock groove, but serves as an adequate breather for the third climactic act.
‘Germany’, with its pentatonic scale and syncopated beats, is more oriental than Germanic, but the mathy feel makes for a song that is the melodic equivalent of H R Giger – trust me on this. ‘Jolomo’ is a slow starter (with more of that picked guitar) but throws in some clangers for good measure to spruce things up so we are happy. Happier are we still with ‘Black Tent’s busted riff and telegraphic drums, all embraced within the rumble of a nearby railway. Finally ‘Beards’ leaves us revelling in an indulgent jazzy freeform of guitars, synths and solos. What a long strange trip it’s been.
Though vocal-free music is definitely not to everyone’s taste, Errors have certainly outdone themselves in making an album that will appeal to as many styles as possible without compromising their own style. The result is a very varied but cohesive album that bursts with optimism and good vibes. It’s nice to hear something with the tag ‘post-rock’ that can’t be prefixed by the word ‘glacial’.
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