Sleep Whale Houseboat CD

Houseboat's LITTLE BRITE EP from July 2009 showcased a not-quite-coalesced vision, but their full-length, HOUSEBOAT, released only four months later, is a different story. Here, Bruce Blay and Joel North have enough time to fully develop their take on the post-rock genre, and enough studio savvy to incarnate their vision into a coherent set of songs and instrumentals. Foremost a violinist and guitarist, respectively, Blay and North focus on an acoustic sound. Their pieces are based on strings, some percussion, and vocals, to which are added lots of samples and digital treatments. The treatments are mostly of the glitch-polluting kind, and act as way of fragmenting song structures, adding an element of unpredictability. The songs are short, emotive, and occasionally gorgeous, replete with violins and cellos, female vocals, etc. The music is simple: one piece often being carried by a single motif, with the occasional 180-degree turn thrown in for contrast; but the arrangements are rich and multilayered. This latter point is particularly well illustrated by "Green Echo" and "Light Tunnel," two pieces in which sheer beuaty (the strings) and destabilization (glitchy electronics literally gnawing at the fabric of the music) complement each other. A lot on HOUSEBOAT will sound familiar to post-rock aficionados, with partial comparisons to Sigur Rós, Balmorhea, Below the Sea, and Explosions in the Sky all making sense. However, SLEEP WHALE have developed their own sound, and in the case of this album, they make it work.