…And So We Destroyed Everything is the first full-length by Australian experimental instrumental rock band Sleepmakeswaves. Originally issued within their home country in Aug. 2011, the record was met with so much acclaim and so many award nominations that it was picked up for international release. The rich, powerful, and sometimes dark album is as dynamic as it is long, touching on a large variety of genres in its 52 minutes of running time.
The opening track, “To You They Are Birds, To Me They Are Voices In The Forest,” is an eight-minute orchestration of shoegaze bliss. It is loud and dramatic, keeping the listener’s attention through its series of movements. “Our Time Is Short, But Your Watch Is Slow” is the most electronic song, possessing the drums and ambience of intelligent dance music.
In between all of the tense buildups that define Sleepmakeswaves’ style, there are also plenty of soft sections. The first half of “Now We Rise And We Are Everywhere” sounds quite a bit like what would be the soundtrack for a sandbox/tycoon sort of videogame. Not to say that the music is boring, but more that its passive quality makes it great as background noise, either while working hard or hardly working. Listening to the opening of “A Gaze Blank And Pitiless As The Sun,” I can’t help but be reminded of Grimes’ “Skin,” a testament to just how large the genre blanket created by this LP is.
This is the perfect album for you if you’re a fan of post-rock/experimental outfits such as Godspeed You! Black Emperor, or if you’re just looking for a sound that is far from emotionally disconnected, but is less in-your-face than some much wordier music can be.
In A Word: Intense
