It’s taken a year and a half, but then A Light within, the American post-rock entity that released the exceptional ‘preface’ EP back in 2013, don’t exactly operate on a normal time scale. Content to follow their muse and develop their sound organically, ‘Page #51 (between shores)’ is a continuation of the journey started with preface, expansively covering a huge amount of musical territory over the course of its seven minutes.
A slow-building piece of music, ‘…between shores’ rises out of a heat haze of ambient noise to take in elements from a wide range of genres. In the slow, measured verse you’ll hear elements of the grandiose gothic rock of Sisters of Mercy, in the build-up that may (or may not) be a chorus, you’ll hear the towering sludge of neurosis and in the extended outro you’ll witness the band tripping the light fantastic through the spacey post-rock of Mogwai and Red Sparrowes. If there’s any criticism, it is that the song ends so suddenly it feels as if it was cut off rather than allowed to end naturally, and this constitutes a rather rude awakening for those who like to drift amidst the music. Overall, however, tt’s epic, cinematic music and it promises great things of the EP due later on this year.
As a statement of intent, ‘Page #51 (between shores)’ is impressively wide in scope. It showcases a band unafraid to experiment and what we need from A light within now is the mind-altering album of which they are patently capable. In the meantime, ‘…between shores’ is available to download from the bandcamp page linked below – get to it.
