Explosions In The Sky
All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone
Spunk/EMI


There are many moments in life that are so inanely predictable. John Howard butt kissing any American Government dignitaries that he has the chance to meet in person is one example. A more positive instance of predictability would be the new Explosions In The Sky (EITS) album. 'All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone' is entirely predictable and loveable. It is exactly what you expect an EITS record to sound like, they haven't messed with their post-rock instrumental formula at all; there is ample loud/quiet moments as they take the listener on a journey of guitar noise from chilled valleys of clean guitar to massive crescendos of distortion.

It is hard to put into words thoughts about specific songs for a couple of reasons. Firstly, they themselves can't put their thoughts into words, so how am I meant to? Secondly, all the songs essentially blend; they are all just components to the same work of art (or as the Cambodian t-shirts proclaim "Same Same. But Different"). It takes EITS only 46 minutes to track through 6 songs, but it really is hard to know where one song starts and the next stops.

One of the highlights is It's Natural To Be Afraid; the beautiful succession of clean guitar notes and its waterfall like sound is reminiscent of a guitar section from The Stone Roses I Wanna Be Adored, although typically EITS blows it all into another stratosphere by adding in huge rapid fire drums and a glorious echoing guitar that sounds akin to a performance in a cathedral. Not everything is compelling - What Do You Go Home To? floats past like pleasant but uneventful background music.

'All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone' won't catapult Explosion In The Sky beyond the level of Mogwai or Godspeed! You Black Emperor, but it is a worthy album for fans of this genre.

Scott Berry