Sagarmatha

Atmospheric dream pop post-rock, maybe a touch of shoegaze. The Appleseed Cast has traditionally not been such a ‘post-rock’ oriented outfit as this album displays; they have been more of an indie rock band with an ‘emo’ tag attached to them for a while now. This album clearly demonstrates a different direction. You have to admire a band who tries to forge a new path with every release. This is reminiscent of their Kid A-inspired albums Low Level Owl (vols I and II). And the music is good, too. At times this reminds me of Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky, Molasses, Grails, and a-filers Graboids and Ascent of Everest. Many of the tracks abandon ‘song structure’ and are fluid movements forward. Definitely recommended. Start with 1 or 4. The only two I don’t really like are 2 and 7. No FCCs detected.

**1. Riffs are recycled as drums pound along. Loose percussion, as song develops into post-rocky glory with effects-laden guitars arpeggiating. Builds to wall of noise with thick guitars, and speeds up for an exciting outro with watery, indecipherably distorted vocals. (8:15)
2. Chiming percussion, big bass line, more vocals early on, noisy thick guitars slash under the chorus? Rich, reverby and distorted guitars space out in the. (7:05)
*3. Instrumental. Lots of instruments muted in the mix early on, rhythm section, again, leads the charge forward. Mogwai guitars come in, bass line, piano, bells drive it along, (8:08)
**4. Watery vocals in a more traditional pop song with dream pop and maybe shoegazey tendencies. This is a lovely brief pop song. (3:09)
*5. Instrumental. Short, acoustic guitars over simplistic rimshot percussion, some electric guitars softly come in. Great interlude. (1:49)
*6. Heavy drums and heavy yet sweet guitars. Dark beginning. Changes course at 1:45 into beautiful, atmospheric, spacey dream pop. Again changes its focus at 3:15 to rhythmic pop with a dreamy groove. (6:27)
7. Instrumental. Electro sequencing opens the track; weird rhythmic pop is built around this strange lead synth? Skittery electronic percussion comes in too. (4:02)
*8. Moody, dark guitars and swirling wall of noise behind vocals, synths, interesting bass, urgent feel. Percussion takes over second half. Awesome, noisy, rhythmic, spacey section, then morphs into stuttering guitar hero mode briefly. (6:27)
*9. Instrumental. Dark, brooding noisy beginning with thick bass, turns into rhythmic swirl. Reminds me a bit of Do Make Say Think, even Radiohead. Ominous ending. (4:28)