Silent Whale Becomes A° Dream - North (2023)

One of my favourite lesser known post-rock acts is back! Silent Whale Becomes A° Dream Six years after their fantastic album Requiem, it's finally time for continuation in a form of a false EP called North.

I say it's false because, although it's only two tracks, together they make up over half an hour of the most atmospheric kind of post-rock. It is the kind of guitar music that creates soundscapes rather than compositions, it's post-rock that is all about the overwhelming, immersive atmosphere created by guitar and string instruments. And since the songs here are so long, it's no surprise that the French know how to slowly but surely develop their music from instrumental ambient up to the post-rock's specialty: beautiful crescendos. And the title of this EP definitely is not a coincidence: this music feels like the North itself: impressive to the point of fear and beautiful to the point of tears.

North costs 9 EUR.

Silent Whale Becomes A° Dream - Requiem (2017)

Check: North

Country: France

Genre: atmospheric post-rock

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Silent Whale Becomes A° Dream - Requiem (2017) EN

At the end of the year there emerged one of the biggest candidates for an offstream post-rock album of the year. The Frenchmen of Silent Whale Becomes A° Dream showed us how to create long compositions that can both build tension, inspire with the size of sound and jerk some tears of affection.

The recipe seems to be well-known - long developing tracks with guitar finalisation spiced up with spacious drums and melancholic weeping of strings. Still it has to be done with taste not to bore the audience nor discourage with pomposity. 

SWBAD scored a bullseye as everything on this album sounds about right, each of the long minutes: the filled with dreadful noise ending of "Dies Iræ, Dies Illa", extremely slow "Cor Contritum Quasi Cinis" of full of cinematic ambiance "Recordàre". And yes, Latin language fits post-rock perfectly. And yes, the cover looks as if it wasn't swimming people but at least victims of a shock wave of a nuclear explosion. And yes, the end of "Lacrymósa Dies Illa" sounds like the latter.

"Requiem" costs 9 USD.

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Silent Whale Becomes A° Dream - Requiem (2017) PL

Pod koniec roku pojawił się jeden z mocnych kandydatów na post-rockowy album roku w offstreamie. Francuzi z Silent Whale Becomes A° Dream pokazali jak nagrywać długie kompozycje, które potrafią zbudować napięcie, zachwycić epickością i wywołać łzy wzruszenia.

Niby przepis jest sprawdzony - długo rozwijający się kawałek z gitarowym finałem zaprawiony przestrzennie brzmiącymi kotłami i melancholijnym pojękiwaniem smyczków. Tymczasem trzeba potrafić to zrobić tak by nie znudzić i nie zrazić pompatycznością. 

SWBAD trafiają w punkt i wszystko na tej płycie brzmi dobrze, każda z długich minut albumu - zakończone przerażającym noise'em "Dies Iræ, Dies Illa", nad wyraz powolne "Cor Contritum Quasi Cinis" czy pełne kinematograficznego rozmachu "Recordàre". I tak, łacina do post-rocka pasuje. I tak, okładka wygląda jakby to nie byli kąpiący się ludzie a co najmniej ofiary fali uderzeniowej po eksplozji atomowej. I tak, finał "Lacrymósa Dies Illa" jak taka brzmi.

"Requiem" kosztuje 32 złote (9 USD).

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