Artist: Mondrian Oak
Title: Through Early Seed
Type: Album
Label: Consouling Sounds

There are some albums that immediately leap out and grab you by the throat; ‘Through Early Seed’ isn’t one of those. This Italian band seem to delight in capriciously slipping in under the radar: while the comparisons are easily summed up in the term ‘instrumental post-metal’, listening to it is a very curious experience. While other bands make concessions draw you in, Mondrian Oak’s choice of chords don’t seem to have quite the same effect: passages briefly spring to life, but rather then hit that chord change or up the tempo, they slow things right down to a pace even Mogwai would consider sedate. In fact, they have a lot more in common with the Scottish indie meisters than their brawnier American cousins: Mondrian Oak’s emotional weight comes from almost unbearable stillness rather than smashing into a riff like you’d expect.

Opening track ‘Clouds Collide’ is a case in point. It becomes clear that the main focus here is not on the grinding repetitive riff – that functions more of a bridge motif. Instead, the usual structure is turned on its head, with a delicately picked passage, with the heavy riff dovetailing it. ‘Harvest’ is similar, but familiar. The contrast is less extreme, and the quiet passages retain the similar sense of urgency and malevolence to the louder main riff. ‘Drift’, however is when things really start to get curious: it’s bisected neatly in half, and gradually you begin to understand that this is a band with a singular approach to the ebb and flow dynamic characteristic to the post-metal genre. While the running times are relatively short, they truly live up to the proviso ‘epic’; especially on album closer ‘Through Haze’, which is most assuredly not in a hurry to finish. And then suddenly it is, leaving behind a most strange sensation.

Ultimately though, the main problem with this album is that it is just too damn short. At 35 minutes spread over 6 tracks, you get the feeling it’s over almost as soon as it’s started. While just over half an hour for an album is paltry in any case, this is doubly so a problem with music of this ilk. While you could argue its brevity is not a problem if you’re paying attention, the fact remains that the paltry running time reduces the mouth-opening wonder this could have induced if they had given themselves more time to unfurl their wings and truly soar.

http://www.myspace.com/mondrianoak

Steve Jones

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