TBTS Reviews: Explosions In The Sky – Take Care, Take Care, Take Care

There aren’t many bands that can consistently produce full albums of instrumental guitar rock (or post-rock if you like) and then have their efforts become both successful and critically acclaimed. Explosions in the Sky are making a habit of bucking that trend. Their seventh release, Take Care, Take Care, Take Care (Temporary Residence), continues along the unorthodox path of abstract composition as sound painting. EITS’s description defying experiments are now at the stage of fine tuning, after finding their way down the precarious route that can result from not including a vocalist in your band. On Take Care, Explosions in the Sky creates six different sonic settings and within each a separate mini-world of musical exploration. To refer to the presented selections as songs isn’t wrong mind you, just an incomplete designation.

It’s quite easy to get lost in what Explosions in the Sky does, and maybe that could be what they are striving for. The physical packaging for the disc can be unfolded to portray the inside or outside of a building, becoming a virtual base of operations for the sound trip that is Take Care. The ebb and flow of guitars weaving in and out of rhythmic figures then leaping off of drum fills and flourishes, dynamic expression encompassing a level of subtlety almost beyond what can be perceived by the human ear, all this and more await every listeners discovery.

Chances to see EITS stateside are rare these days, unless you live in the vicinity of their hometown of Austin, TX. However, they are playing both Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo. So if you find yourself at either, be sure to check them out.

Explosions in the Sky are masters of their craft. Don’t think just because you might not normally like instrumental music that Take Care, Take Care, Take Care is to be passed by. You could miss out on one of the coolest albums of the year.