Label: Temporary Residence

Web site: explosionsinthesky.com

Release Date: Feb. 19, 2007

Explosions in the Sky - All of A Sudden I Miss Everyone
Matthew Ralph

I'm not afraid to admit that I first got into Explosions in the Sky while watching the movie "Friday Night Lights." Something about their songs and that movie just made a perfect match. The movie made the songs and the songs made the movie. The same goes for the television show I shamelessly look forward to watching each week.

Rather than claim I knew them and appreciated them more before they went mainstream, I'm going to say, even after listening to the new record, that I like the band best when their music is fueling the hormone-driven escapades of a high school football team. The Lord's prayer could not sound any better than set to the tragically hopeful sounds of this Texas band.

But of course, this review is about the much anticipated fourth release from the band and not their movie and television tie-in.

With this six-song, 43-minute affair now added to my iTunes playlist, I can honestly say that my ears perk up a lot more when the six songs are over and the soundtrack taht is next in line on my playlist begins.

Still, the rawness of this recording is something to be admired. It captures the intensity and energy of what I'd imagine a live show would be like and for that I give the band kudos. The opening track, "The Birth and Death of the Day" is abrasive from the start and in-your-face with its noisy bursts of energy. The drumming is a mass of over-the-top goodness.

"Welcome, Ghost" picks up right where that left off with the trademark sound that makes this band every bit what the name would suggest. Like fireworks on a clear summer night, the song pounds away like rolling thunder building and growing in its scope before crashing to a halt.

The rest of the record — save for the well-played keyboard heavy closer "So Long, Lonesome" — sticks to a similar routine, a factor that will give those who find the band's music redundant plenty of fodder.

This record, even with it's sappy title, won't disappoint those anxiously awaiting its official arrival next month, but it also won't convince those of us mainstream lovers of the band's catalogue that the their music works totally independent of a Friday night high school football game either.

posted [01.19.07]

2002-2007 White Elephant Productions