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YorkeDaddy · 11-14-2019, 10:04 AM

pg.lost - Key

Some albums warrant a track-by-track dissection but I do not believe that this album does.

I will start by saying that I definitely enjoy this album. I listened to it twice - once through consecutively and a second time that was a bit more fragmented because I kept having to go do other things. I would describe it as very pleasant and well-executed.

I do have some other points to make though, and I don't necessarily want to call these negatives but they might read that way. The first point is that I have heard extremely similar music before, and I'm intrigued to hear Ki's thoughts on those other artists and why he views this album as his favorite. I would consider Explosions in the Sky, for example, to be just like this except a bit more dynamic. Throughout "Key" I found myself hoping for something to spice up the tracks, maybe introduce a new instrument or completely different idea. These guys are great at writing a soft, meandering guitar riff and layering everything well while sprinkling in some crunchier distortion at the right moments, and if they set out to write an album that displays that particular skill throughout they definitely did a great job. But I found little that set this album apart from other post-rock albums I've dabbled in.

Shortly after I finished this album for the 2nd time, I went and listened to an old classic: Godspeed You! Black Emperor's "Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven". The albums are very similar in structure and goals, but GY!BE packs so many interesting instrumental variations and ideas that make it a much more dynamic listen for me. It feels like a journey with highs and lows, while "Key" feels like a collection of tracks that are all undeniably well-executed but feel disjointed. It's a post-rock album for the sake of being a post-rock album, while the great albums of the genre (imo) tend to create more explosive, memorable pieces.

I'm sorry if this feels like it has devolved into less of a review of "Key" and more of a comparison to other similar albums, but it's hard to write a lot about "Key" itself given the structure and style of music that it is.

I would consider "Terrain" to be easily my favorite of the bunch, featuring some of the more catchy guitar moments of the album and a more aggressive, focused song structure. Every other song on the record otherwise can be summed up quite simply: soft guitar, then hard guitar, then soft guitar, then hard guitar to close. Or vise versa on "Sheaves," for example, which starts out a bit harder and then fluctuates between softer guitar and then circles back to the crunchy riff that opened the song for the closer.

I would say 54 minutes is too long for this record, but again, I find it to be enjoyable and can't really say anything necessarily bad about it. I just don't see myself revisiting this album if I'm ever in the mood for this type of music, because I feel there are more unique experiences out there to listen to instead. I would definitely love to hear the reasoning that this album in particular stands out for you, Ki. But if you don't even necessarily have a reason, that's cool too. Sometimes an album just speaks to you in a special way, and that's what is great about music.

For me, though, this album gets a solid 6.5/10.