Back in 2013, I remember a period of time where I was sent album after album by up and coming post-rock bands. At the time, I felt I was a little dismissive of some, partly in due to the glut I’d experienced from hearing so much of the genre. Of course, every now and then, an album would crop up that’d remind me just why I liked the genre in the first place, with one of those bands being My Education. The band demonstrated a great understanding of the genre, with a great knack for throwing in flair and personality that sets them apart from many others. Now, we see a wonderful continuation of that great spirit, in the form of ‘Schiphol’.
On their latest album, we see My Education really pushing forward a sense of versatility and creativity in each of their tracks. There’s a phenomenal energy to the album, which ebbs and flows as it goes through moments of crushing intensity, before flowing away into calm moments of serenity, and of course, back again! It all results in an album that feels incredibly fresh, with enough personality from the band themselves to really set them apart from so many others in the genre, a point that I often bring up in these reviews as it is an important element of being in a post-rock band, having your own personality.
I remember mentioning in my previous review all those years ago that My Education had a great system of utilizing an array of different instruments to give each of their songs their own flair. On Schiphol, we once again see that, with each track getting anchored by a certain instrument or motif. (whether it be an acoustic guitar or a viola, etc). It results in each track feeling fresh, avoiding any repetition in the album’s flow as it moves from track to track. There’s even a sense of fun and enjoyment in the tracks’ aesthetics, partly reminiscent of the fun aesthetic one might find in the more upbeat tracks by Mogwai.
It’s easy to get pulled into the word My Education conjure up on Schiphol. The album itself seems to just bounce across a variety of different ideas, going from crunchy indulgent aggression to calmer moments. Everything feels incredibly cohesive in context to each other, with each track flowing to the next effortlessly, without the new elements being introduced sounding to off. It demonstrates the strong levels of talent from the band, who if anything, make the whole thing look incredibly easy, (when in fact it isn’t). All in all, it’s a wonderfully strong record that definitely shows the band as one which continues to improve and impress.
