Balmorhea - All is Wild, All is Silent (Album)
“I have never witnessed a sight of the kind, which, in my opinion, was more beautiful than this. The colour of it is far deeper and richer than any I have ever before seen. When I look at this I sometimes wonder how I could ever have thought that [other sights are] beautiful; it seems so insignificant compared to this. Around all is wild, all is silent. Yet we are in a country with which we are entirely unacquainted, no road, no compass, and at the point of starvation.” - William B. DeWees
As one of the first settlers of Austin, Texas, DeWees gave his account of the trepidation, fascination, bewilderment and euphoria that three hundred families to first settle in the region felt as they tried to claim a hold on the land outstretched before them.
Texan band Balmorhea have translated this sentiment into a both stirring and serene classically-flavoured mellow album of post-rock tunes that reads as a love letter to the immediate world that surrounds them.
Post-rock seems to be a dirty word, as a sub-genre it has almost become a complete nonissue in audiences hearts, minds and ears. Stale afterthoughts of doodling instrumentation by indie-rock types keeping their delay fx pedals close at hand. A rinse and repeat of loud-quiet-loud building to a crescendo that could be considered climactic if were used as the backing track for an emotional beat in a movie. Pretentious and overly long song titles that don’t really allude to anything at all, with songs running on for far longer than the average attention span. All this punctuated by the listener’s response of, “yeah, and where are the vocals?”
At least, that’s the word on the street these days.
Bands falling into the post-rock category have been oh-so close to my heart for years now, and it’s overly satisfying to hear another album on top of the pile that doesn’t wholly fall prey to the above mentioned banal meanderings and delay pedal shenanigans. Balmorhea take a more considered road, distilling the historical, cultural, and topographical essence of their native state of Texas into sweeping and textured cinematic movements that swell and burst with a gentle guiding hand. Songs realign themselves from pleasant strings and acoustic guitars, to piano-driven somber and plaintive hymns backed by a banjo and restful percussion that induce imagery directly aligned with the album's cover art.
There are a few moments on All Is Wild that encompass a more general, straightforward, or mainstream rock vibe that comes across as stilted, with the players just going through the motions all the while steeped in rigidity that confines the instruments to merely plodding along with the tempo. On the positive side you could liken it to: Eluvium with a backing band of classically musicians who are actually into classical music, Godspeed You! Black Emperor without the acerbic antagonism, drudge and field recordings, or The Grails if they did less drugs and happened watch No Country For Old Men at their grandparents house over tea and biscuits.
