Falcon Arrow: Tower Review (LP Release Show TONIGHT!)
When you eschew words in your music, the metaphorical door is left wide open for musicians to aim towards the “epic” end of the spectrum. When you are writing lyrics, there is a clear and defined line in the sand when something goes over the top and becomes pastiche. From the opening seconds of Tower, local post-rock duo Falcon Arrow use every tool at their disposal to craft a product that feels both gigantic and also tightly wound. When the galloping bass line kicks through your speakers on album opener “Derelict,” you feel a sense of urgency and possibility that rarely recedes over the next 10 songs. It is an arresting album, an 11 song tour de force that pushes the needle in all of the right places.
Whether it is the more subdued, post-rock gliss of “Dune Patrol” & “Regnar Regnar” or the simmering glory of the previously posted “Landing Gear,” the album is a bass-and-drums centric fever dream. Throughout the album, the group mixes up their sound enough to not feel repetative, from the almost Minutemen esq. groove of “Cyclostar” to lush landscapes of “Dah-Mavaya.” It builds without falling into the trap of feeling like it is only working towards the “payoff,” with the group using looping to feel like a larger contingent than the two members of the band.
The album actually came out in August (it made my best local albums of 2014), but the group are celebrating the material making its way onto vinyl with their show tonight at the Hexagon. It is a great LP, and one worth celebrating either for the first time if it is new to you, or again if like me you’ve had Tower as part of your rotation over the last few months. Stream the record below and buy the LP either at their show tonight or via their band camp page.
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