Review Summary: A beautiful midpoint between epic post-rock and gorgeous back porch folk music.
Hailing from Montreal, People For Audio are yet another addition to Montreal's legendary epic instrumental rock scene. Two years on from their debut
And this will be our homecoming and released on Canada's Storyboard Records
The New Ancients is the band's second LP. Employing a great range of instruments from synthesisers, piano and guitar to lapsteel, pedal-steel and banjo, People For Audio create an expansive and varied sound reminiscent of bands like Do Make Say Think, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Pink Floyd and Grails.
What's more obvious than anything else about
The New Ancients is that it is a big album, highly varied in every way imaginable, extremely dense and not easily digestible. In short, it's really overwhelming, at least at first. In listening to it without watching for changes in track numbers, it's difficult to figure out where some songs end and others begin. Allegedly recorded over the course of a full year in a number of different areas as varied as gig venues, professional studios, cabins, rehearsal studios and even bedroom closets, it's clear that People For Audio are uncompromising when it comes to getting the great range sounds they want, which they masterfully do on
The New Ancients. And this, more or less, summarises what makes
The New Ancients such a great record. What separates them from many of their post-rock peers is that People For Audio seem far less interested in dynamics and dramatic, theatrical intensity than they are in capturing moods, places and atmospheres. The songs on
The New Ancients will often trick the seasoned post-rock fan into thinking that there are huge climaxes around the corner when the songs will in actuality stay on a constant level, being kept interesting by tonal shifts or added instruments and melodies. Sonically, People For Audio are always highly organic, prominently featuring the piano, as well as folk instruments and electric guitars. Even when electronic synthesisers are used, they always seem to be implemented in an organic manner that complements the rustic nature of the rest of the instrumentation.
In terms of order,
The New Ancients gets it just right. The louder, more dynamic songs are often paired softer piano pieces and the songs that include vocals are sprinkled effectively throughout the album's 13 tracks. "Black Memory White Whale", the album's single of sorts moves the band's sound toward a back-porch folk sound, bearing as much resemblance to a
Sufjan Stevens tune as it does to a
Godspeed You! Black Emperor one. "Olos Okiek" is a short but beautifully effective piano piece that bridges the equally short instrumental folk tune "St. Henry's Back Porch" and one of the songs prettier, more accessible moments, "Hard Luck".
The New Ancients is, above all, a big album that requires numerous listens to grasp. Even after that, listeners will find new things to appreciate about the music. Sitting somewhere between the post-rock of bands like
Do Make Say Think Godspeed You! Black Emperor and the folk of
M. Ward or
Sufjan Stevens,
The New Ancients is both familiar and unique in ideas and execution. People For Audio have certainly outdone themselves in creating such a beautiful and complex second album.
Pros
Great sound
Excellent vocals
Beautifully produced
Cons
Overwhelming
Hard to become familiar with
Recommended Tracks
Captain
Black Memory White Whale
Hard Luck
Final Rating: 4/5
