I Sank Molly Brown

"All Mom Blues Band," the second track on I Sank Molly Brown's The Age of Pretzlcoatl, starts out with a Slint-like bass line but quickly escalates into more dissonant sonic territory as the song progresses. The band also continues to deliver its signature tempo shifts on the just-released album. Caleb...

By Tom Murphy

March 13, 2014

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"All Mom Blues Band," the second track on I Sank Molly Brown's The Age of Pretzlcoatl, starts out with a Slint-like bass line but quickly escalates into more dissonant sonic territory as the song progresses. The band also continues to deliver its signature tempo shifts on the just-released album. Caleb Tardio's expressive vocals serve as the locus of energy, while Dylan Self's vocals whisper evocative secrets as the music swells and ripples. Even more than it did on previous releases, ISMB changes up textures more creatively and emotively than do most other math-y bands. This is technically challenging music that nevertheless achieves affecting textures and micro-moods. The overall effect is something like eddys and tidal waves of feeling, battering one's barriers to self-realization.

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Tom Murphy is a writer, visual artist and musician from Aurora, Colorado. He was a prolific music writer for Westword and a documenter of the Denver music scene.

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Twitter: @simianthinker