54. iLiKETRAiNS - The Christmas Tree Ship (2008)

The newest EP from British instrumental gloom rockers: iLiKETRAiNS comes as a 5 track seamless epic which hits a little over the 22 minute mark. The problem I had with their 2007 full length, Elegies To Lessons Learnt, was that it was so dark and moody, I rarely had a perfect time to play the record. No one I knew died that year. I had no breakups or catastrophic incidents. The summer went by with little incident. ETLL is so melodramatic, it is hard to listen to the record without some weight of thought and pondering. The vocals from Guy Bannister pours out of the speakers filling the room with an introspective fog. Certain tracks from ETLL work well on mix tapes especially if you want to level the drive you had been cultivating for the past few tracks but to listen to an the entire album is a marathon and something I only did twice. The Christmas Tree Ship comes as a bit of relief compared to last years full length. These five songs are continuous and completely instrumental. With the absence of Bannister's thick mood, the weight of the album isn't so overbearing. The EP starts out very post rock in its themes of wonderment and reflection; there is even a chance that the EP could be uplifting. Fuck that. Halfway though the EP, things turn sour, dark and epic. Is it as dark as ETLL? No Stepping back and reflecting on the entire product, The Christmas Tree Ship is a well constructed instrumental piece. It is easy and enjoyable to listen to when by yourself. Their is no reason for suicide watch. There are no leg aches from the weight of your meaningless existence. Your sadness and melancholy is now diamonds which fall like snowflakes around you. Compared to the vast output of contemporary post rock bands (Explosions In The Sky, Saxon Shore, This May Destroy You) this EP may blend in as "one of those albums without words," but beneath the blinking guitars and slow build ups, there is a complexity, one that may require the weight of thought and pondering.



Holy Gloom its "Spencer Perceval" from the Elegies To Lessons Learnt LP