Russian Circles
Guidance
Sargent House (2016)
Good for: A goth dance party where everyone dances to their own piped-in music, like in ‘The Lobster’
Rating: 6.0
The songs of Guidance are pretty much textbook Russian Circles: they utilize metal progressions and climax / anti-climax song structure to create a powerful sound. The song “Afrika” is a particular highlight, but for the most part, the production on Guidance fails to present its songs in a manner best fit for them. By trying to beef up the three-piece’s sparse instrumentation to fulfill a decibel quota, the sound weakly affects the listener. No longer is there a unity in song sections complementing a separation of instrumentation; instead, there is just a dynamic-lacking loudness. It is within this presentation that a slow, repetitive post-rock formula is revealed.
The artwork that, via russiancirclesband.com, motivated the creation of Guidance depicts a man walking dignified and honorably to his own execution. While the band managed to create an atmosphere within the songs that complemented their inspired feelings around this initial photograph, Guidance’s track-listing is poorly ordered for each song’s mood. As with the emotional difference between simply quiet/loud vs. soft/hard, the direction of Guidance lacks the feeling of hope that are in the songs themselves and that we all look for and bear through to find in music.
-Niru Sivakumar
Again thank you to the punksinvegas crew for their help in getting me a place on their very special site.