Saxon Shore

Item: Four Months of Darkness
Author: Tyler Baber

Four Months of Darkness

(2003)

Reviewed by Tyler Baber

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Label Burnt Toast VinylDecapolisAugust 2003

experimental indie rock post-rock

Technology is a harsh mistress. The technological aftermath of the industrial revolution has left our world in a state of computer generated pseudo-utopia of the sort science fiction writers have been envisioning for centuries. The digital revolution has blessed her creators with cures for diseases, all white meat chicken, and opinionated e-zines. But as aforementioned sci-fi imaginists often pointed out, the computerization of society is bittersweet. A measly blackout can render entire states helpless. Televisions are plagued with reality shows. One is left to wonder: does the good outweigh the bad?

Instrumental rock-ish group Saxon Shore explores this dualism in a more musical and less philosophical sense on their new EP Four Months of Darkness available on Burnt Toast Vinyl. While the group's 2002 debut was more of a minimalist pop album, Four Months of Darkness throws the past sound of simple musical craftings and few instruments into a cage match with the laptop and effects pedal driven sounds of the digital insurgency for thirty minutes of avant rock craziness.

Sprawling guitars are still the primary focus of Saxon Shore as they are in so many other instrumental groups these days. Four Months of Darkness explores basic repetition and gradual, somewhat anti-climactic building up on tracks such as "Your Months of Darkness" and "Side By Side in the Gentle Descent." These songs more than the rest of the album echo peers such as Kinski and Unwed Sailor with the guitar/bass/drums faux-orchestral arrangements and slow climbs and descents from peppiness to despondency. Often computer generated pitches and reverberations are employed to mix it up, but occasionally the hybrid seems more uninterested than passionate.

It is on tracks "Amber, Ember, Glow" and "Secret Fire, Blinding Light" that Saxon Shore truly shines. On these tracks the band builds on their indie pop roots exposed in the first album with quick paced rockers that are as catchy as any radio anthem without any of the stale aftertaste. These tracks also show the best mix of technology and minimalism, blending the two together without compromising each other's integrity. Paradox never sounded so good.

B-