Rock music has a growing sub-genre. Post-rock is becoming more and more “in” as an influence with bands, only spurred on with the advent of huge groups like Sigur Ros, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Explosions in the Sky, God is an Astronaut, This Will Destroy You,and many more. Edgier bands are picking up these post-rock influences and creating an abundance of intense sonic journeys. One such band is New York’s Take One Car.
I am tuned UP was very fortunate to receive an unsolicited press copy of the record for review. Many bands out there are desperate for any exposure – many don’t deserve it. Take One Car is an exception. Take pieces of O’Brother, Thrice and the aforementioned post-rock bands and they are what results. While some may scream “copycat!” upon hearing the record, I don’t think that’s really the case. I’ll warn you though – this record doesn’t lend itself easily to track-by-track recaps. That’s often the point with bands in this genre. The music isn’t written to be catchy – it’s written to take you on a journey. This journey can change depending on your mood, although the mood Take One Car is going for on It’s Going To Be a Nice Day is ironically an angst ridden one. It wouldn’t surprise me if the album title was purposefully ironic, but I don’t want to put words in the band’s mouth.
The leading title track presents seven minutes of relative serenity (in comparison to the rest of the record). The single “Dear Ronnie” hits you hard with dissonant vocals and instrumentation. By the way, instrumentation is what drives the record. The vocals are an appendix to the book that is the whole record. One of the catchier intros occurs in the opening plucks of “Brim,” which meanders for awhile before leading into the shorter, mellower “Patriarchs.” The highlight of the record takes the form of “Yet Another Voyage (Adrift)” which makes use of complementary, atmospheric instrumentation in much the same way that As Cities Burn does on their album Come Now Sleep (“Our World is Grey” comes to mind, specifically). The band treads back into irony with the hard-hitting “Virtue” before the final two tracks, which appropriately act as parts one and two for a single piece of instrumentation. The fact that the album ends on a somber note might seem somewhat cliche, but in the case of Take One Car it works.
In short, Take One Car is a band that seems destined for greatness if they continue on their current path. Their main downfall is choosing a genre that is quickly becoming saturated, so they will have to continue to work hard if they wish to succeed. I plan on continuing to spin It’s Going To Be a Nice Day and observing how my listening journeys in response evolve. I think this is what they are aiming for.
Score: 4/5
