Albums of 2007
Its Time.
Top 15 Albums of 2007
Somehow i kept this list to 15 albums. huuuray! i'm not going to rank them, except to declare a top 5 grouping.
Burning Star Core - Operator Dead...Post Abandoned.
i'm heading further and further out. this year i've spent entire days listening to nothing but Burning Star Core. i mean, one can pick any of this guy's releases to highlight, but this one....oh my. its not the craziest drones that C. Spencer Yeh has ever laid down BUT the pairing with some nice drum work set this release right off.
Panda Bear - Person Pitch
its the experimental album i can listen to with mother in the kitchen. in contrast with Young Prayer from a couple years back, its lush, layered, distinctive, and it moves in such joyful ways thanks to some deft loop work. it also rewards careful re-listening.
Strategy - Future Rock
some surprisingly analog and long form, borderline hip-hop production-and its out on Kranky. these are quite interesting instrumentals, and the album is laid back and has a fantastic overall mood. best used bin find of the year.
Burial - Untrue.
with mood firmly established on his eponymous debut, Burial went ahead and blew minds with his ability to turn up the hooks on his second album of paranoid yet deeply aware dubstep while maintaining the aura he won so many accolades for.
Matthew Dear - Asa Breed
i sure love it when a baritone says "fuck it" and just sings. i'm jealous that i havent any songwriting skills, and i'm also jealous that i dont have the acumen to combine it with some excellent minimal techno tracks as Matthew Dear has. not that this sort of thing hasnt been done before, but hearing some underblown production with a dude singing in his natural register is refreshing and inspiring for me right about now.
Pantha du Prince - This Bliss
this album was one of those random dancefloor-inspired albums which cross the plate every so often, with only a few sticking around or providing me with an emotional attachement. this album has stuck in my heart, its strikes a chord in its emotional tone and in its groove, and in its surprises.
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
though i fell in love with the Gay Parade version of Of Montreal, i've decided to come along to the electro-tinted, sleeker side of their catalog, which i think has really hit its stride with this last one.
No Age - Weirdo Rippers
lets have sloppy, poppy fun. we dont need more than a drummer who sings and a guitar player who has a couple of pedals. too often this assumption falls far short of being awesome or reinvigorating. i can happily report that No Age bring back something i havent been in the presence of since my early days of listening to Nirvana (Sub Pop must have been looking to reclaim past glories by signing these guys). best thing is they're they're low on pretension and low on delusions of grandeur. oh, and low on drama. lets just have a small mosh pit!!!
Deerhunter - Cryptograms
its worrisome how much hype has been dumped by the truckload on Deerhunter. Though only half the album gets out of ambient/guitar jam mode into any real songs, some delicious, delicious promise is shown by this group from Atlanta. the Fluorescent Grey EP which tags along on the 2LP version helps suggest that the songwriting chops are there. a quite lovely experimental rock album once it gets rolling.
Kaman Leung - Lacrimal
dubby, bassy, clever, angular, and tiiiight. its everything you want in a beat, and its one of my prized finds of 2007.
The Top 5
Frog Eyes - Tears of the Valedictorian
though i'm not nearly smart enough to fully get Frog Eyes, this is the first time i've been drawn into one of their albums as a feeling that lasts all the way through, and the first time one has had such magnificent pacing and composition. clocking it at 36 minutes, it feels like so much more has gone on during its short span. i hope they keep getting better and better. best Frog Eyes album by a long shot.
The Field - From Here We Go Sublime
much like Akufen a few years back, finely chopped samples are at the heart of this album. here the effects are the hyperextension of rhythm to produce texture (akin to what a jazz drummer might do with lots of rolling), and some beautiful and subtle moments in which you could be on a dancefloor, heavily chemically fueled, but instead you're inside your headphones on a bus or train. oh, and its la revanche de kompakt, you heard it here first, its totally on.
Sunset Rubdown - Random Spirit Lover
file under sprawling, dense, weird indie rock epic. its a very difficult listen but this album, when it hits you at the right time, is a true masterpiece.
The Besnard Lakes - Are the Dark Horse
i didnt think i liked the classic rock sounds of the 70s except in the way it reminded me of driving or working in the garage with my Dad. apparently i was wrong. some amazing songs, and such fun arrangements with loads of high falsetto harmonies, all the right guitar touches, and thoughful production and orchestration. AAAAND YOU LIEEEED TO MEEEEEE.
Skeletons and the Kinds of All Cities - Lucas
unlike some large ensembles who attempt to rend emotion with raw force, the extended crew around Matt Mehlan's Skeletons project are content to noodle and explore relentless around the outsides of the songs, not always making sense but somehow providing a wonderful off-kilter world for the album to live in for an hour or so. lots of excellent rhythmic grounding as well. i was really let down that the border didnt let these guys across to play at Pat's Pub one hot summer night.
Experimental
Alog - Amateur
not that this norwegian duo had it, but building instruments you dont know how to play is a great way to fight writers block if you've got the time. its a very acoustic Alog album, which is nice given their heavy reliance on electronics earlier in their career.
Stars of the Lid - And Their Refinement of the Decline
SotL can just keep putting out an amazing double album every couple years. thats fine. it will mark the passage of time, and the inevitable tick of the clock of different bedrooms and different stages of life.
Burning Star Core - Blood Lightning
the lesser of the two b*c albums this year since it doesn't flow as well for me. a hot live recording rounds out the disc, though.
Fennesz, Sakamoto - Cendre
this one is just way too pretty to let go by. best experienced at night, though.
Soft Circle - Full Bloom
primitivistic, shamanistic, and filled with touches of ritual, dancing, and campfires.
Battles - Mirrored
despite loving this album to pieces, i have to hold back from calling it one of the best of the year. despite the humor, amazing musicianship, and unmatched cleverness, my heart remains unmoved by Battles. i need something more vital to be said, to be honest. still strongly recommended though, and i have high hopes for them as a band if they manage to stick together.
Songs
The Choir Practice - The Choir Practice
full disclosure: i'm a friend of a Choir Practice member, and i'm an ex-chorister myself. leaving both those facts out of the equation and The Choir Practice have nonetheless put together a fun, wry, and darkly humorous sunny vocal pop album that just begs to be sung along with. plenty of choir in-jokes too. something for everyone!
Michael Dracula - In the Red
classic pop production with unique delivery. you wonder what inspired a sound like this in the 00's (or at least i do). great songs too.
M.I.A. - Kala
another side of M.I.A., with more heart and more daring moves. gunshots as beats and children as gangstas, thats what.
A Place to Bury Strangers - A Place to Bury Strangers
more classic sounds, this time its lots and lots of pedals, lots and lots of noise, and lots and lots of staring into the sun (or into the blackness)
Dirty Projectors - Rise Above
only Dave Longstreth could record a Black Flag album from memory, completely turn it on its head, and make it a beautiful, knotty, and astounding album complete with backwards african guitar interlocking harmonies, and.......utopianism?!?! i'm not kidding, its the words of Henry Rollins with a sunniness scarce heard before.
Shocking Pinks - Shocking Pinks
another baritone, but this time in some delightfully fuzzy and rough rock tunes. some great tunes, and the mood and delivery both suit them to a t.
Electronic
Deepchord Presents Echospace: The Coldest Season
its funny because i'm writing this from a plane, but there's something really nice about the thought of being so far down in the ocean that all one feels is the water and the only thought of the surface is a distant memory. despite lots of hiss, this album is in the cold dark ocean, and the reverby touches arent just done by the book at all. this will be a good one for the long rainy Vancouver winter.
Boxcutter - Glyphic
this album is on the more traditional electronic end of the dubstep spectrum, in fact this could almost be mistaken for a Warp Records release (i'm thinking Wagon Christ). brilliant production and great variety throughout these mostly upbeat tracks, with some great drum breaks to boot. not as moody but still well unified as a sound. a lot brighter than the last Boxcutter release i heard as well.
Pan Sonic - Katodivaihe
there's nothing quite like a Pan Sonic album. despite their sound being pretty old-school as industrial electronic-y goes, they're still hard to beat for interesting listening music, at times subtle, at times brash.
Caribou - Andorra
all the pop is there, including some terrible, embarassing love song lyrics. the krauty long-form beat stuff is there, the killer opening track is there with the sunshine-its all the Caribou we've come to love. but then there are the last 2 tracks, which run from claustrophobic to absolutely cosmic, and which elevate this one to more than more of the same.
Free Jazz and Improv
Brötzmann, Nilssen-Love, Gustafsson - The Fat is Gone
from the first chasing toots and the fills of drums falling down stairs you know this is going to be a pyrotechnic and over-the-top set. hell, its Brötzmann and Gustafsson, the could blow a Spanish galleon halfway across the pacific.
MoHa! - Norwegianism
and you thought they couldn't get louder and more difficult. pffffft.
Albums of 2006 I Came to Love in 2007
Band of Horses - Everything All the Time
i was warned by my barber not to play this one out, and he's right. too much repeat listening would surely kill this album, but its a minor hit for me nonetheless, mostly due to the vocal lines, which are a fair bit more interesting than the otherwise generic backing would suggest.
Final Fantasy - He Poos Clouds
here's the skinny on this one: when i heard all the backstory about He Poos Clouds, when i got the details on Final Fantasy when the run-up to the inaugural Polaris Prize was on, i was sure it was going to be either pretentious garbage or that it would fall short of its ambitious target. so i decided to let it all die down and wait a while. happily, i was dead wrong. i'm sure Owen Pallett comes from privileged stock, and he is a teeny bit of an affected homo type, but his ability as a musician, as a songwriter and arranger, and as a man able to get into your heart are unmatched. and his favourite song of all time is "An Actor Will Seek Revenge", and he's amazing live (he constructs everything himself with a loopstation!!!), and this is a wonderful, joyful, and inspiring album.
Fucked Up - Hidden World
i believe a while back i said this was punk rock for grad school. i know a couple Fucked Up purists who prefer the shorter sloppier bursts, and i've since gone back and developed a taste for such things as well. this is the well-produced, note-perfect, long-form and literate Fucked Up. and its a Hidden World, seen through a Third Eye.
John Butcher and Paal Nilssen-Love - Concentric
i've seen these two play as part of a larger group this past year. i came to really like John Butcher because his extended technique and gesticulation is less extremism and noise and more otherworldly and eerie. Paal Nilssen-Love i've known about for a long time, and he's got to my favourite improvising drummer so far. this album actually contains one of my favourite musical moments ever: while Paal is bowing cymbals, John musters up some overblown whistle tones and goes up and joins him, doubling the cymbal frequencies on soprano. it was difficult, took an amazing amount of effort and technique, and sends a storm of shivers down the spine, leaving you with that warm glow at the back of the skull when you've been poked deeply in the brain.
Mastodon - Blood Mountain
i'm not sure if i heard Mastodon first from Guitar Hero or if it was simply by looking up the acts i didnt know in advance of the Pitchfork Music Festival (more on that to come, by the way). these dudes bring some serious hardcore chops to their quasi-fantasy metal, which surprisingly for me doesnt come off as a put-on. perhaps there are just some kinds of riffage that sound best when set against the backdrop of a tortured hero on a mystical, dark journey. compositionally i really like Mastodon as well, they throw in some great bridging bits and set guitars nicely against the drums, vocals nicely against the riffs. a great way to get the heart pumping and some motivation the lab as well, and its good clean fun since i dont think these guys take themselves to seriously (unlike some people....).
Paal Nilssen-Love and Ken Vandermark - Seven
a skronky tune, a riffy tune, and a quiet tune. the two previous Vandermark/Nilssen-Love albums, Dual Pleasure and Dual Pleasure 2 alternated between short form and long and provided a great complement to one another. this one is two longs and a short, respectively, with a succinct 45 minute runtime. not as much ground covered as their previous duo work but a great set nonetheless.
Pan American - For Waiting, For Chasing
i threw this one on my iPod, forgot that i'd added it, then was wowed once i'd shuffled to it. it took me a while to remember that it was indeed Pan American, but Mark Nelson's touches are unmistakable, especially with rhythmically muted tape hiss and hanging clear bell tones. i thought i'd left this sort of quiet ambient behind, but i was dead wrong.
Tussle - Telescope Mind
a better and fuller sounding and composed album from Tussle. when i made it album of the week a while back i said "this one is a really solid soundtrack do doing anything in a slick and solid way. it all hangs on the bass lines (and luckily for you they've lifted the best one from their debut, Kling Klang)."
120 Days - 120 Days
shades of U2 (in the good, epic way) and lots of synths to match the lots of guitars. the vocals are plaintive and impassioned, and drive drive drive, this album just keeps trying to push forward with a lot of urgency.
Top 15 Albums of 2007
Somehow i kept this list to 15 albums. huuuray! i'm not going to rank them, except to declare a top 5 grouping.
Burning Star Core - Operator Dead...Post Abandoned.
i'm heading further and further out. this year i've spent entire days listening to nothing but Burning Star Core. i mean, one can pick any of this guy's releases to highlight, but this one....oh my. its not the craziest drones that C. Spencer Yeh has ever laid down BUT the pairing with some nice drum work set this release right off.
Panda Bear - Person Pitch
its the experimental album i can listen to with mother in the kitchen. in contrast with Young Prayer from a couple years back, its lush, layered, distinctive, and it moves in such joyful ways thanks to some deft loop work. it also rewards careful re-listening.
Strategy - Future Rock
some surprisingly analog and long form, borderline hip-hop production-and its out on Kranky. these are quite interesting instrumentals, and the album is laid back and has a fantastic overall mood. best used bin find of the year.
Burial - Untrue.
with mood firmly established on his eponymous debut, Burial went ahead and blew minds with his ability to turn up the hooks on his second album of paranoid yet deeply aware dubstep while maintaining the aura he won so many accolades for.
Matthew Dear - Asa Breed
i sure love it when a baritone says "fuck it" and just sings. i'm jealous that i havent any songwriting skills, and i'm also jealous that i dont have the acumen to combine it with some excellent minimal techno tracks as Matthew Dear has. not that this sort of thing hasnt been done before, but hearing some underblown production with a dude singing in his natural register is refreshing and inspiring for me right about now.
Pantha du Prince - This Bliss
this album was one of those random dancefloor-inspired albums which cross the plate every so often, with only a few sticking around or providing me with an emotional attachement. this album has stuck in my heart, its strikes a chord in its emotional tone and in its groove, and in its surprises.
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
though i fell in love with the Gay Parade version of Of Montreal, i've decided to come along to the electro-tinted, sleeker side of their catalog, which i think has really hit its stride with this last one.
No Age - Weirdo Rippers
lets have sloppy, poppy fun. we dont need more than a drummer who sings and a guitar player who has a couple of pedals. too often this assumption falls far short of being awesome or reinvigorating. i can happily report that No Age bring back something i havent been in the presence of since my early days of listening to Nirvana (Sub Pop must have been looking to reclaim past glories by signing these guys). best thing is they're they're low on pretension and low on delusions of grandeur. oh, and low on drama. lets just have a small mosh pit!!!
Deerhunter - Cryptograms
its worrisome how much hype has been dumped by the truckload on Deerhunter. Though only half the album gets out of ambient/guitar jam mode into any real songs, some delicious, delicious promise is shown by this group from Atlanta. the Fluorescent Grey EP which tags along on the 2LP version helps suggest that the songwriting chops are there. a quite lovely experimental rock album once it gets rolling.
Kaman Leung - Lacrimal
dubby, bassy, clever, angular, and tiiiight. its everything you want in a beat, and its one of my prized finds of 2007.
The Top 5
Frog Eyes - Tears of the Valedictorian
though i'm not nearly smart enough to fully get Frog Eyes, this is the first time i've been drawn into one of their albums as a feeling that lasts all the way through, and the first time one has had such magnificent pacing and composition. clocking it at 36 minutes, it feels like so much more has gone on during its short span. i hope they keep getting better and better. best Frog Eyes album by a long shot.
The Field - From Here We Go Sublime
much like Akufen a few years back, finely chopped samples are at the heart of this album. here the effects are the hyperextension of rhythm to produce texture (akin to what a jazz drummer might do with lots of rolling), and some beautiful and subtle moments in which you could be on a dancefloor, heavily chemically fueled, but instead you're inside your headphones on a bus or train. oh, and its la revanche de kompakt, you heard it here first, its totally on.
Sunset Rubdown - Random Spirit Lover
file under sprawling, dense, weird indie rock epic. its a very difficult listen but this album, when it hits you at the right time, is a true masterpiece.
The Besnard Lakes - Are the Dark Horse
i didnt think i liked the classic rock sounds of the 70s except in the way it reminded me of driving or working in the garage with my Dad. apparently i was wrong. some amazing songs, and such fun arrangements with loads of high falsetto harmonies, all the right guitar touches, and thoughful production and orchestration. AAAAND YOU LIEEEED TO MEEEEEE.
Skeletons and the Kinds of All Cities - Lucas
unlike some large ensembles who attempt to rend emotion with raw force, the extended crew around Matt Mehlan's Skeletons project are content to noodle and explore relentless around the outsides of the songs, not always making sense but somehow providing a wonderful off-kilter world for the album to live in for an hour or so. lots of excellent rhythmic grounding as well. i was really let down that the border didnt let these guys across to play at Pat's Pub one hot summer night.
Experimental
Alog - Amateur
not that this norwegian duo had it, but building instruments you dont know how to play is a great way to fight writers block if you've got the time. its a very acoustic Alog album, which is nice given their heavy reliance on electronics earlier in their career.
Stars of the Lid - And Their Refinement of the Decline
SotL can just keep putting out an amazing double album every couple years. thats fine. it will mark the passage of time, and the inevitable tick of the clock of different bedrooms and different stages of life.
Burning Star Core - Blood Lightning
the lesser of the two b*c albums this year since it doesn't flow as well for me. a hot live recording rounds out the disc, though.
Fennesz, Sakamoto - Cendre
this one is just way too pretty to let go by. best experienced at night, though.
Soft Circle - Full Bloom
primitivistic, shamanistic, and filled with touches of ritual, dancing, and campfires.
Battles - Mirrored
despite loving this album to pieces, i have to hold back from calling it one of the best of the year. despite the humor, amazing musicianship, and unmatched cleverness, my heart remains unmoved by Battles. i need something more vital to be said, to be honest. still strongly recommended though, and i have high hopes for them as a band if they manage to stick together.
Songs
The Choir Practice - The Choir Practice
full disclosure: i'm a friend of a Choir Practice member, and i'm an ex-chorister myself. leaving both those facts out of the equation and The Choir Practice have nonetheless put together a fun, wry, and darkly humorous sunny vocal pop album that just begs to be sung along with. plenty of choir in-jokes too. something for everyone!
Michael Dracula - In the Red
classic pop production with unique delivery. you wonder what inspired a sound like this in the 00's (or at least i do). great songs too.
M.I.A. - Kala
another side of M.I.A., with more heart and more daring moves. gunshots as beats and children as gangstas, thats what.
A Place to Bury Strangers - A Place to Bury Strangers
more classic sounds, this time its lots and lots of pedals, lots and lots of noise, and lots and lots of staring into the sun (or into the blackness)
Dirty Projectors - Rise Above
only Dave Longstreth could record a Black Flag album from memory, completely turn it on its head, and make it a beautiful, knotty, and astounding album complete with backwards african guitar interlocking harmonies, and.......utopianism?!?! i'm not kidding, its the words of Henry Rollins with a sunniness scarce heard before.
Shocking Pinks - Shocking Pinks
another baritone, but this time in some delightfully fuzzy and rough rock tunes. some great tunes, and the mood and delivery both suit them to a t.
Electronic
Deepchord Presents Echospace: The Coldest Season
its funny because i'm writing this from a plane, but there's something really nice about the thought of being so far down in the ocean that all one feels is the water and the only thought of the surface is a distant memory. despite lots of hiss, this album is in the cold dark ocean, and the reverby touches arent just done by the book at all. this will be a good one for the long rainy Vancouver winter.
Boxcutter - Glyphic
this album is on the more traditional electronic end of the dubstep spectrum, in fact this could almost be mistaken for a Warp Records release (i'm thinking Wagon Christ). brilliant production and great variety throughout these mostly upbeat tracks, with some great drum breaks to boot. not as moody but still well unified as a sound. a lot brighter than the last Boxcutter release i heard as well.
Pan Sonic - Katodivaihe
there's nothing quite like a Pan Sonic album. despite their sound being pretty old-school as industrial electronic-y goes, they're still hard to beat for interesting listening music, at times subtle, at times brash.
Caribou - Andorra
all the pop is there, including some terrible, embarassing love song lyrics. the krauty long-form beat stuff is there, the killer opening track is there with the sunshine-its all the Caribou we've come to love. but then there are the last 2 tracks, which run from claustrophobic to absolutely cosmic, and which elevate this one to more than more of the same.
Free Jazz and Improv
Brötzmann, Nilssen-Love, Gustafsson - The Fat is Gone
from the first chasing toots and the fills of drums falling down stairs you know this is going to be a pyrotechnic and over-the-top set. hell, its Brötzmann and Gustafsson, the could blow a Spanish galleon halfway across the pacific.
MoHa! - Norwegianism
and you thought they couldn't get louder and more difficult. pffffft.
Albums of 2006 I Came to Love in 2007
Band of Horses - Everything All the Time
i was warned by my barber not to play this one out, and he's right. too much repeat listening would surely kill this album, but its a minor hit for me nonetheless, mostly due to the vocal lines, which are a fair bit more interesting than the otherwise generic backing would suggest.
Final Fantasy - He Poos Clouds
here's the skinny on this one: when i heard all the backstory about He Poos Clouds, when i got the details on Final Fantasy when the run-up to the inaugural Polaris Prize was on, i was sure it was going to be either pretentious garbage or that it would fall short of its ambitious target. so i decided to let it all die down and wait a while. happily, i was dead wrong. i'm sure Owen Pallett comes from privileged stock, and he is a teeny bit of an affected homo type, but his ability as a musician, as a songwriter and arranger, and as a man able to get into your heart are unmatched. and his favourite song of all time is "An Actor Will Seek Revenge", and he's amazing live (he constructs everything himself with a loopstation!!!), and this is a wonderful, joyful, and inspiring album.
Fucked Up - Hidden World
i believe a while back i said this was punk rock for grad school. i know a couple Fucked Up purists who prefer the shorter sloppier bursts, and i've since gone back and developed a taste for such things as well. this is the well-produced, note-perfect, long-form and literate Fucked Up. and its a Hidden World, seen through a Third Eye.
John Butcher and Paal Nilssen-Love - Concentric
i've seen these two play as part of a larger group this past year. i came to really like John Butcher because his extended technique and gesticulation is less extremism and noise and more otherworldly and eerie. Paal Nilssen-Love i've known about for a long time, and he's got to my favourite improvising drummer so far. this album actually contains one of my favourite musical moments ever: while Paal is bowing cymbals, John musters up some overblown whistle tones and goes up and joins him, doubling the cymbal frequencies on soprano. it was difficult, took an amazing amount of effort and technique, and sends a storm of shivers down the spine, leaving you with that warm glow at the back of the skull when you've been poked deeply in the brain.
Mastodon - Blood Mountain
i'm not sure if i heard Mastodon first from Guitar Hero or if it was simply by looking up the acts i didnt know in advance of the Pitchfork Music Festival (more on that to come, by the way). these dudes bring some serious hardcore chops to their quasi-fantasy metal, which surprisingly for me doesnt come off as a put-on. perhaps there are just some kinds of riffage that sound best when set against the backdrop of a tortured hero on a mystical, dark journey. compositionally i really like Mastodon as well, they throw in some great bridging bits and set guitars nicely against the drums, vocals nicely against the riffs. a great way to get the heart pumping and some motivation the lab as well, and its good clean fun since i dont think these guys take themselves to seriously (unlike some people....).
Paal Nilssen-Love and Ken Vandermark - Seven
a skronky tune, a riffy tune, and a quiet tune. the two previous Vandermark/Nilssen-Love albums, Dual Pleasure and Dual Pleasure 2 alternated between short form and long and provided a great complement to one another. this one is two longs and a short, respectively, with a succinct 45 minute runtime. not as much ground covered as their previous duo work but a great set nonetheless.
Pan American - For Waiting, For Chasing
i threw this one on my iPod, forgot that i'd added it, then was wowed once i'd shuffled to it. it took me a while to remember that it was indeed Pan American, but Mark Nelson's touches are unmistakable, especially with rhythmically muted tape hiss and hanging clear bell tones. i thought i'd left this sort of quiet ambient behind, but i was dead wrong.
Tussle - Telescope Mind
a better and fuller sounding and composed album from Tussle. when i made it album of the week a while back i said "this one is a really solid soundtrack do doing anything in a slick and solid way. it all hangs on the bass lines (and luckily for you they've lifted the best one from their debut, Kling Klang)."
120 Days - 120 Days
shades of U2 (in the good, epic way) and lots of synths to match the lots of guitars. the vocals are plaintive and impassioned, and drive drive drive, this album just keeps trying to push forward with a lot of urgency.