Sleep & Release

1)Indescretion #243: This kicks off the album nicely with a Pixies-esqye bassline soon giving way to jarring guitars in strange, mathy rhythms, which then calm down for singer/guitarist Craig B to sing the first verse. This is one of the heavier tracks from S&R, made especially notable for having a choir and church organ for the bridge, before the guitars come crashing in again. It finishes off with a spectral soundbite looped over sombre strings and organ.

2)The Black Path: Oddly for the 'gramme, this has an almost upbeat, christmassy feel until you hear the lyrics: "It's time to follow the black path/Come tomorrow you won't laugh", backed by just bass, piano and cello. This song is quite uncatgorisable, but is quite catchy with the build-up of voices at the end.

3)A Simple Process Of Eliminination: One of the quieter tracks. It sounds like a sort of a lo-fi drum'n'bass track, with some synthetic strings and a couple of guitar tracks quite low in the mix, and Craig B's pleading vocal:"Erase/Erase us/Erase this world" for emotional impact. It ends, like the first track, with string and organ, but this time the soundbite is of a disturbing phone message left on bassist Campbell's answerphone.

4)Older: This is a curious mix of rocking power, quirky electronic bleeps and bloops and various droning noises, making it one of the most interesting tracks on the record. It contains one of the heaviest moments on the CD, with Craig screaming instead of singing. It ends with static radio noise, a crazed evangelised voice-sample and some vicious drums giving it a desolate ending.

5)No, Really, Everything's Fine: Another standout rock song, with an off kilter rhythm section and buzzy guitars coupled with a short piano riff looped in the background somehow adds to a sense of foreboding. This is another heavy track, while the gentle, ballad-like bridge could be a different track in itself.

6)Wood: This starts off with drums playing in a weird timing, soon joined by slidy guitar and bass, and Craig B almost sounding happy. The guitars soon shug, and finally the whole band start going mental, with screams, ferocious guitars, and, oddly enough, violin strikes amongst the noise. Towards there's even a guitar solo, which manages not to be cheesy, before respiting back into Converge-y hardcore ferociousness again.

7)Yes: This is the most accessible song and the most obvious single. A pop song, pure and simple, in-and-out under two minutes.

8)In Gratitude: A lighters-aloft ballad compared to other tracks. This is one of the most serene songs, with Craig's inoccent voice against lightly strummed bass, guitars, cymbal heavy drums and swelling strings. Beautiful.

9)A Winter's Dischord: Nothing to do with the D.C. punk label, this is the most minimal track on the record, just acoustic guitar and voice, with the occasional odd noise in the background and strings flourish. It then finishes with more odd noises and a ghostly voice, which sets up nicely for....

10)-: An interesting but weird mix of folk and post-rock. And strangely enough, it works. It starts off quiet with just a metronome and guitar, before building up adding more instruments Mogwai-style, before a haunting violin enters in the musical storm, before crashing to a halt followed by solitary guitar and amplifier-noise. Then the record ends, leaving me longing for them to hurry up with their next album.

If you have heard their first album 'Sleep & Release' this will come as no suprise, however their Flaming Lips with feet firmly on distortion pedals sound has been upped greatly, the quiet parts are more elegant and sweeping, and the loud parts well there much much louder, so loud in fact that at times they don't sound to disimilar to Eye Hate God.

This has been the main reason why people don't get Aereogramme how can you sound like Radiohead one second and Iron Monkey the next, well by being on of the most original and underated bands doing the rounds at the moment, thats how.

Put all preconceptions of how a band should sound to one side and give this album a go. You wont regret it.