Pitchfork on Explosions In The Sky

Pitchfork have been less than favourable with a review on Explosions In The Sky's new composition "Welcome, Ghosts", from their imminent new album ("All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone"). Although I don't particularly agree with what they are saying, I have to admit, "Welcome, Ghosts" did not have the same impact, that say "Six Days At The Bottom Of The Ocean" or "Greet Death", from previous albums, had on me. That being said, though, it is in a live setting that the true magic of the Explosions comes to the fore.

Tracklisting and more info on "All Of A Sudden, I Miss Everyone" can be found here.

Here's what Pitchfork had to say...

"Guitar, bass and drums excepted, self-awareness is the tool everyone knew Explosions in the Sky had to master to beat itself in the sub-genre whose doors it lifted. Through no fault of Explosions’ own, two dozen bands now mine the same twinkle, build, brood and roar dynamic and swipe their resplendent tones and nearly imploding passes. Evolve and survive.

The first 100 seconds of “Welcome, Ghosts,” the second shortest song in the quartet’s catalogue, realize that self-awareness: instruments, sounds, and motifs arrive to disappear every 4-13 seconds, undermining the band’s customary distensions. But the last four minutes-- 20 and 30 second clips of steady rhythmic steps and amplifiers alternating in the mix-- dismiss it, forsaking directed turns for a slowing climb that nearly stalls. Sure, the result still feels like a deserved peak through the clouds, but it’s less a revelation than a band meeting concision somewhere right of centre.

Four years ago, this would have been a new love, but, by now, it’s a well-rehearsed, consistent climax. Different, just not. "