AOTW: Explosions In The Sky — The Wilderness

After a long 5 year absence, Explosions In The Sky released a new album. That’s not to say they’ve not been busy. From 2013 through 2015, they worked on motion picture soundtracks for Prince Avalanche (2013), Lone Survivor (2014) and Manglehorn (2015).

They have constantly been at the top of the post-rock game, and while not all their albums are spectacular, they earn solid marks on reviews industry-wide on all of their six previous albums. While we are not partial with assigning an album a ‘score’, like if it was a test artists have to ace, positive marks are often a good indicator of quality.

Post-rock is a difficult genre. Some people think it’s lacking variety, while others love the raw simplicity, music at its purest. To me, the trick is not falling in the same common ground over and over again. Even if EITS‘s sound is well-defined and recognizable -after all, they’ve been together for almost 20 years-, it’s never, not even a little, monotonous.

In The Wilderness, after such a long wait, the band has had a chance to rediscover themselves. We have the familiar, melodic sound and we also find new instrumentation, energy, and dynamism. It appears to be that EITS has a new found joie de vivre, with beautiful atmospheres and dramatic arrangements.

Explosions In The Sky‘s work has become progressively more and more complex over time, and their experience in Hollywood benefited their storytelling abilities. The Wilderness is, under any radar, a remarkable musical journey, with valleys, mountains, and underwater forgotten civilizations. Anguish, joy, violence. It has it all.

Catch them on tour now.