By Mark Wardale
Hailing from New Mexico, After Osmosis are A.J. McQuay on guitar, Jon McMillan on bass and Ian Byrd on drums. Thought provoking and progressive post rock is their specialty and I wondered just how I would fair with the self-titled E.P. The band first released a track back in Nov 13’ titled ‘Exhale’, which was more of an ambient & atmospheric song with some nice guitar work. However, this recent release is much more than a 3 minute flash in the pan.
The EP as a whole works very well together. It’s consistent and it doesn’t take you long to find your head moving slowly in time to the aptly named opening track 'Moment Of Truth'. It builds up and so does your enthusiasm for the song as the guitars glide through and sweep you away.
One thing you will notice by this point is the great use of new noises and atmospheres brought in by 3 guys, drums, a bass and a guitar. The drummer also has a clear sound and some lush cymbals used so appropriately.
'Strange Byrd' follows on from this with a kind of drone reversal opening and the drumbeat comes in like somebody is pushing the speaker closer and closer to you until you can hear every sound in that detail you want to hear. The band and production team are, on this track particularly, showing off their mixing techniques and add electric piano and what sounds like tremolo on either guitar or violin, whatever it is, its so important to the track as it sets that tense feeling and wait within the song as you know something is about to happen. It doesn’t climax as such but it does retain that same feeling. The song plays out the same way it came in. It’s a really cool track.
My stand out song on this EP is track 3, 'Perpetual'. This song has classic hallmarks of a melodic post rock song from the guitar combination and really stunning melodies that are produced as the bass also adds with some higher notes. As the drums bounce in to shift this song to a new level it becomes clear to me that I’m going to listen to this song again once its finished. It’s accomplished and full of positive energy.
The EP is rounded off by 'A Hero’s Rampage'. It has a delicate touch with beautiful reverb guitar work, some gentile drum rolls which are followed by a lovely soft bass (which sounds like a double bass on this track, but could be wrong). It’s full of mystery and wonder and I’m happy to be apart of it because you feel like more is going to be unraveled as the song progresses. And it does, with great satisfaction. Back with a climax to finish off the song the band collectively gel and show off their musical talent with drum fills, lovely bass coordination from the bass player and a small guitar solo at the very end. I feel like I’ve been on a journey.
To sum up, I think it would be impossible for me not to want to listen to any kind of follow up to this EP. It would be a shame if these 3 talented musicians didn’t make a full-length album, nay, I demand a full-length album! And I would also like to hear the same engineering team work with them as the After Osmosis EP was very well produced. It also really evoked some emotions from me. I think this band show the correct amount of restraint for what they are trying to create and they don’t go any further than they need to. A great listen for any post rock fan.
