This Will Destroy You

Tunnel Blanket (Suicide Squeeze Records)

It’s great to come back with a bang! This Will Destroy You’s third effort is a great way to mark my return to the writing circuit.

The band has been around, in their current form, since 2005, and has been playing together in various groups since the beginning of the millennium. Non-stop touring, medical issues, and a departure couldn’t stop the group as they continued to hone in on what was to become their “sound.”

Taking influence from other instrumental groups as Animal Collective and Godspeed You Black Emporer!, the group tends to have a darker tone to it, and less form than their counterparts. To me, this sounds like a mixture of Sigur Ros’ “Von”, and Mogwai’s ”The Hawk is Howling” – ambient, fertile soundscapes wafting over almost non-existent rhythms. Normally, this doesn’t work for me. However, this works here because This Will Destroy You stays consistent in their effort. On a lot of post-rock-instrumental albums, bands attempt to move in all directions with the sound and try a different musical experiment in each song. Ultimately, that leads to a cluttered mess that you can’t sit down and enjoy all the way through. This Will Destroy You has a dark, ambient, ethereal theme running through the whole album that helps it move along and draw the listener in, while each song maintains its own sound and signature.

What works for This Will Destroy You is simplicity in execution. The guitars are layered, but not overwhelming; there are multiple elements in each song, but they do not clash on top of each other – they each float in their own echelon, briefly coming together, and then floating apart. When the songs do become heavy, as the three-and-a-half point in “Black Dunes”, or the four-minute mark in “Communal Blood”, does so well, it does so to add bravado to the song – not to be noisy for the sake of being noisy.

“Tunnel Blanket” may not be a game changer in the realm of post-rock, but what this album does in the way of consistency and force will help ensure This Will Destroy You a spot in the genre’s canon. This is a solid release: well recorded, well executed, and has been well received.

This Will Destroy You on tour:

05/14
DALLAS, TX
Main Street Garden

05/14
DALLAS, TX
Main St. Garden

05/16
PHOENIX, AZ
Rhythm Room

05/17
LOS ANGELES, CA
Echo

05/18
SAN FRANCISCO, CA
The Independent

05/20
PORTLAND, OR
Star Theater

05/21
SEATTLE, WA
Vera Project

05/22
VANCOUVER, BC
Media Club

05/24
SALT LAKE CITY, UT
Kilby Court

05/25
DENVER, CO
Larimer Lounge

05/26
LINCOLN, NE
Bourbon Theatre

05/26
MINNEAPOLIS, MN
7th Street Entry

05/28
CHICAGO, IL
The Bottom Lounge

05/30
TORONTO, ON
Lee’s Palace

05/31
MONTREAL, QC
Club Lambi

06/01

BOSTON, MA
TBA

06/02
NEW YORK, NY
Bowery Ballroom

06/03
PHILADELPHIA, PA
Johnny Brendas

06/04
BALTIMORE, MD
Metro Gallery

06/05
WASHINGTON, DC
Rock and Roll Hotel

06/07
RICHMOND, VA
Strange Matter

06/08
ASHEVILLE, NC
Lexington Avenue Brewery

06/09
ATLANTA, GA
The Earl

06/10
BATON ROUGE, LA
Spanish Moon

06/11
HOUSTON, TX
Fitzgerald’s

06/12
AUSTIN, TX
The Parish