By now, it seems the post-rock genre has cemented itself with its rules and formats, giving itself a template for others to follow should they want to get into the genre themselves. This constitutes mostly as having delicate yet enticing guitar lines that give way to sudden passages of explosive noisy rock. With this has come wave after wave of bands simply doing this bare minimum, without really bringing much of a spark to the music, and whilst competent, it doesn’t really do much else. And then of course there’s bands like Long Hallways, who follow that format very closely, and yet have that spark that stand themselves out amongst the sea of copy-cat bands.
The band’s latest effort The Way Home is perhaps their first real effort in showcasing everything they have to offer, and proving themselves as a post-rock act which you should keep your eye on. Amongst all those big noisy crescendos, and beautiful passages so often seen in the genre, there’s something that simply grips us as listeners, keeping us utterly enthralled. This isn’t a band that is doing the bare minimum required to get by, but instead they’re doing what is needed to set themselves apart, which is injecting themselves into the heart of their own music. And the result of which is something that is memorable and strong.
Whereas most post-rock seems to recall an aesthetic similar to bands like God Is An Astronaut, at times, Long Hallways evoke an aesthetic more similar to Mogwai at times, where large impressively loud moments are offset by the presence of delicate yet beautiful instruments (notably the glockenspiel, which is perhaps responsible for some of the Mogwai comparisons!). Everything melds together very comfortably and effortlessly, resulting in a post-rock experience that seems to grow in strengths the further and further you delve into it all.
The many strengths present on The Way Home have all resulted in a very pleasing post-rock experience, one which suggests we’ve got another very strong and very capable post-rock band to keep on our radar. Something about what is being presented on this release suggests there’s some very strong capabilities of the band, who are more than willing to really push themselves forward and produce some very interesting and enjoyable pieces of work.
