The Color of Cyan – Music News

Guideline registers (label)

December 01, 2022 (published)

1 d

There is no doubt that Chicago has become a major hub in the post-rock world. With two of the strongest bands of the genre, Russian Circles and Pelican hailing from Windy City, you have to wonder what’s in the water to inspire such sprawling and breathtaking music. These transporting scores evoke haunting, misty, castle-filled European hills or towering cliffs that meet the pounding wrath of an angry sea. Not the manufacturing and transportation center of the American Midwest. And yet, the scene thrives, continuing to produce some of the best atmospheric rock in the world. It is perhaps a desire to escape that prompts these artists to create such vast otherworldly soundscapes.

The Color of Cyan continues this legacy with their latest release Agape. Their fusion of shoegaze and metal, ambient and orchestral creates a dense cloud of altered consciousness to envelop the listener. Like meditation or hypnosis, the subject is drawn into an environment that suspends the reality of everyday life to bring them into a certain dream state. Agape delivers moments of monumental weight swirling in a whirlwind of creeping delay and reverb.

The layers build with measured rhythm as “Inception” introduces the piece in nine movements. Chords form and dissipate with a warm bass undertone supporting the sonorous upper strings. Not a drum to be heard until the opening track gives way to ‘Summer Days’ and even then drummer Henry Cole waits another three minutes before making his overwhelming entrance. Slow crescendos are the name of the game. The band draws inspiration from the ancestors of the genre Isis (the band), employing extreme levels of patience to build a wave that pays off with great satisfaction. ‘Little Stars’ follows in a delicate procession marking a cosmic night sky. The band’s movements are delicate and subtle creating a multitude of mini swells, swirling the mind to get lost in its misunderstanding of the grandeur of the universe.

The album’s juggernaut ‘Sun in Leo’ spans nearly ten minutes, unfolding in successive cascading layers. Halfway through, we are treated to a transcendent bass break from Jorge Santana. The low-end man picks out a nice rolling, scalable line on a lightweight, suspended drone. The band happily joins him in a triumphant peak that elicits a long, slow headbang to the end of this gigantic track. ‘Moon in Cancer’ gives the listener appropriate respite. Soft arpeggios act like small ripples on a lake illuminated by the full moon. Rene Torres’ violin comes and goes bringing a melancholy elegance to the piece.

The biggest banger on ‘The Day We Met’ album abruptly cuts through the serenity of ‘Moon in Cancer’. The heavy-handed snare drum and serious strumming by guitarist Eduardo Cintron make this gargantuan track very hard. The title track encapsulates the album’s moods, ranging from a quiet shimmering guitar that recalls life’s tender moments to a grand finale that highlights the blood, sweat and tears it takes to climb life’s mountains. . This penultimate track reveals everything.

Agape is an ingenious showcase of musical prowess and tasteful musicianship. The band flows completely seamlessly with each other, changing the moods in a way that allows the listener to truly lose themselves in the music. To hell with cliches! A magnificent album that proves that great post-rock pushes the limits of what textural music can achieve.