From Monument To Masses – On Little Known Frequencies

I think I'm dying. Not in the literal sense, of course, but on the inside. Little by little, each day. I'm turning into a cold husk of a man. It's an odd state to find oneself. And it's all down to music. Recently I've not been moved by very much music at all. The new Animal Collective has left me as cold as a North Sea facing beach, the last TV On The Radio album didn't spark with me like their previous efforts and 2008, in my mind, lacked an ESSENTIAL album that defined that year. What, you might be wondering, has this to do with From Monument To Masses? Well, when the album popped through my inbox, it was defined as post-rock. Now I love post-rock and, in these uncertain times, it's become a banker. My go-to genre. Something to set my mind alight and my foot a-tapping.On Little Known Frequencies is the forth album from this bi-coastal post-rock band, stationed in NYC and San Francisco, and whilst it's not exactly pushing the boundaries, it's continuing proof that post-rock isn't a dying genre. This is an album filled with beautiful little flourishes. It finds itself acting as a bridge between the math-rock of Battles and latter day Explosions in the Sky. There's also the presence of film and television excerpts that act as singing voices. Just as the music heaves and crashes around, as it breaks to where the vocals would kick in, there's the excerpt. A perfectly executed use of scripting that doesn't feel tired or over used.FMTM make no secret of their politics. Many of these scripted pieces contain inspirational pieces of public speaking, or world weary warnings of paranoia. This, coupled with the sweeping use of strings, makes it feel as if you're listening to a film soundtrack. At eight tracks long, it also doesn't over stay its welcome. The tracks very rarely sprawl beyond their ideas, FMTM's conciseness is one of their key strengths - it allows each of the songs to inhabit their own space without feeling forced.Sure, lovers of post-rock will find plenty to love and admire here, and the detractors will say it sounds just like all the other bands who practise this art. But in a world that's becoming increasingly cold, dark and worrisome, I'm going to plug into FMTM and take solace in their epic political symphonies of wonder. 75%From Monument To Masses on Myspace