(2017) Ranges - The Ascensionist
Review: Ranges are an instrumental post-rock band hailing from Bozeman, Montana. The five-piece stay true to the foundation of post-rock and create heartfelt songs without using words, to tell a story. The music in itself could be a best-selling novel; the listener just needs to think of their own great story while listening to these beautifully crafted instrumentals. The Ascensionist keeps the thematic elements there just like their previous releases, and this is just one of the many beautiful things about Ranges. However, the album is a giant leap for Ranges. Their sound is more developed and overall more mature sounding than anything that they have released before. While they stay true to their traditional roots, this is a major change that results in more crescendos, soundscapes, and layers upon layers of instrumentation that build new sonic territories of sound. This is where Ranges truly and authentically define their sound. This album doesn’t follow the rule-book on what post-rock should sound like, instead it contains nine truly beautiful pieces of art that go above and beyond genres. On the opening track ‘The Wanderer’, field-recordings of wind are the first sounds to come into play, followed by a delicate and heartfelt guitar piece that leads right into track two ‘Seven Sisters’, which is when all of the instruments come in together at full-force. At about the 1:40 mark, ‘Seven Sisters’ slows down and moves into an electronic, beat-oriented section until close to the 3:00 minute mark when the instruments begin building back up again smoothly and getting progressively louder, but still remaining to keep that sonic intensity smooth until the end of the track.
Tracklist: 1 - The Wanderer.flac 2 - Seven Sisters.flac 3 - The Ascensionist.flac 4 - Called Not to a New Religion, but to Life.flac 5 - The Greater Lights.flac 6 - The Lesser Lights.flac 7 - Seven Veils.flac 8 - In the Arms of Kings and Gods.flac 9 - Babylon the Great, Pt. 1.flac
Summary: Country: USA Genre: post-rock