Antipodean audio-adventurers We Lost The Sea return with their latest (and fifth) offering, A Single Flower; a thematic exploration of the necessity of hope and inevitability of change against the bleak, relentless march of time and degradation (not too dissimilar to the nasty pang I felt in my bones upon realising it’s been a full decade since Departure Songs. Isn’t thundering through middle-age fun?).
If They Had Hearts’ opening motif steadily builds and builds through 6-plus-minutes of ever-intensifying dread and awe, of pounding drums and growling fuzz before pulling back at whiplash-pace to a gentle, drum-less denouement, a distant cry of optimism amongst sorrow.
A Dance With Death continues in much the similar vein throughout its first half, moving with almost clockwork-like precision as it gently adds elements and tension atop itself. Another waltz-like break offers sonic reprieve, leading up to a more traditionalist “big post-rock” finale that culminates in a rhythmic switch back to initial passage for the conclusion, evoking that sense and theme of time coming inevitably full-circle prevalent throughout the record.
Everything Here Is Black and Blinding opens with drone against heartbeat-like kicks and represents a somewhat gentler offering before the crescendo-proper. Though admittedly WLTS’ approach to the genre skewers more towards iterative than innovative, what they do, they do very well. One of the more intriguing moments comes near the end, with what sounds like a muffled, broken piano against a backdrop of wailing guitar noiseto see us out.
The laid-back, vibrato-laden guitars of Bloom (Murmurations at First Light) represent what appears at first to be the album’s first big tonal shift before quickly launching into a big wall of sound. Possibly the most upbeat, hopeful of the album’s offerings, moving with dynamism across some 13 minutes of welcome exult against the otherwise brooding backdrop.
The Gloaming acts as a breather, all melancholic, mournful keys and strings before we move to the finale and most ambitious effort; Blood Will Have Blood is an epic, near-half-hour showcase of a band at the height of their powers and breadth of their ambition. Were it possible for me to type the words “Sturm und Drang” without immediately collapsing under the weight of my own pretentiousness, I would be sorely tempted, nevertheless this is WLTS in their most complete, final form; though genre-enthusiasts might not find too much to challenge them, they will certainly find a lot to love here.
Follow online: https://www.welostthesea.com/
Review by Gareth Roberts