Album Review: Syntaks / ‘Ylajali’ (Ghostly International)
Nov 24th, 2009 | By admin | Category: Music Reviews
Copenhagen’s Syntaks offer up a romantic, post-rock collection of songs. The biggest problem is the album’s unevenness.
Considering the blurry Gas-by-way-of-Slowdive techno abstractions of The Sight Below and the breakout success of School Of Seven Bells’ Alpinisms, it would seem that Ghostly International have positioned themselves at the center of a shoegazer renaissance. The debut long-player from Copenhagen’s Syntaks, dubbed Ylajali, takes this torch and runs with it, submerging an IDM framework deep within a vast lake of swooning ambience. The end result sounds like late-period Manual with a more rhythmic focus (rather than the disappointingly retro tack he opted for instead), or perhaps an extended study on Boards Of Canada’s “Dayvan Cowboy.” Ylajali isn’t always a great success—in fact, some tracks are downright schmaltzy—but when it hits the mark, it’s breathtaking. “She Moves In Colors,” for instance, sweeps listeners off their feet with a blend of driving beats and overdriven guitars that would give Mogwai a run for their money, while “The Shape Of Things To Come” traverses the sort of epic territory Sigur Rós explored on ( ).
Carl Ritger
File under: Manual, Boards Of Canada, School Of Seven Bells
