Featured Review #42: Spinal Reflex by Aureole

[CAT5 9075]

Artist: Aureole Album: Spinal Reflex 1. I 7. Edit 2. Core 8. Inner Plane 3. Closetsong 9. Brighten 4. The House Of Wafers 10. In Light 5. Pearl 11. Ghostly Me 6. Hercules 12. Last Step

Rating: | A thrilling ride with a few bumps in the road

 

Aureole albums are always an adventure to listen to because you never quite know what you're in store for. The band consists of six members with an ambitious setup. Besides the usual 2 guitars, bass and drums, they also have a keyboardist/flutist and a vibraphone/glockenspiel player. So while they have a variable pallet of sounds to work with, it's the songwriting of vocalist Daichi Mori that keeps things interesting. His approach to music is deeply entrenched in Radiohead and Sigur Rós aesthetics, but his vision is more expansive and he's always had a penchant for experimentation. These musical proclivities have continually been stretched since the band's debut in 2009 and now with their 4th album Spinal Reflex, they've progressed even further down the rabbit hole of Mori's sonic imagination. So where exactly have Mori and the gang decided to take us this time? Well, the opening track "I" literally begins with a bang - complete with crashing cymbols, distorted guitar shredding, and a warbly, alien-like synth, insinuating that we've reached lands unknown. Within a matter of seconds, the raucous intro to "I" becomes an upbeat, bass-driven rock track with frantic vibe/flute riffs and a rather cacophonous chorus. While this may serve as an effective intro for new listeners who get the alien metaphor, it's doubly effective for long-time fans because it also marks a literal departure in the band's sound. "I" is more direct and to-the-point than Aureole has ever been, whereas in the past, Mori's songwriting has overwhelmingly favored the slow-burn of post-rock soundscapes.

"Core" follows suit in a similar instrumental fashion, but somehow this track manages to realize Aureole's newly embraced sound in a much more convincing manner. It's not as frenzied as the opening track, but it's still upbeat and there's something more graceful about how Mori's falsetto glides over the cacophony of instruments. It's no wonder this track was released as a promotional video - it's the perfect song to represent the band's new direction. On the other hand, "Closetsong" maintains the same straightfoward rock approach, but sounds more restrained and lacks the melodic appeal of the first two tracks. It's a pleasant, but ultimately unremarkable song. Much like how "I" lead into "Core", "Closetsong" also feels like a setup for the next track.

If you were just getting familiar with Aureole's newfound territory, well this is where Mori takes a sharp turn and steers the record into more uncharted grounds. "The House of Wafers" was previously released for free as a B-side to "Ghostly Me", and takes on a new form in the context of the album - marking the first stop on the record's experimental detour. This track expands upon the piano introduced in "Closetsong" and opens with a riff very reminiscent of a haisuinonasa song (who their vibraphonist plays support for incidentally). The verses have an awkward, trippy funk to them that crescendo into an uproar, much like the choruses found in the first leg of the album. "Pearl" and "Hercules" take the funk influences ever further; the former starts as an airy post-rock track before transforming into a hand-clapping groove and the latter is a full-on dance track with Mori's croon sounding fittingly Bee Gees-esque. Though as fun of an artistic divergence as these tracks were, Mori never stays in one place for too long.

The following two tracks take the album in yet another, somewhat darker direction. "Edit" harkens back to the experimental tendencies found in "The House of Wafers" by employing an equally cerebral groove, but this time there is no melodic chorus to pull the song together amidst the aural chaos. It's perhaps the most challenging song on the album, and has a distinct, downy-ish feel to it. "Inner Plane" is a bit more palatable, but it's also more trippy. The song plays out like a soundtrack to a mysterious dream that slowly evolves into a perplexing nightmare - going from an off-kilter groove to an explosion of menacing distortion and psychotic piano riffs. These two tracks are definitely located somewhere deep within the rabbit hole, and as far as Aureole has traveled in the span of the first eight tracks, it's only inevitable for fatigue to set in at some point.

"Brighten" would have made an excellent final destination, but instead it feels more like a rest stop on a route headed towards locations that aren't worth visiting. The song is cozy and dreamy with post-rockish accents that bring early Aureole to mind. It puts a fitting cap on the madness that proceeded it and would have been a great way to end the album. Unfortunately the journey continues with "In Light", the most standard and mundane rock song on the record, "Ghostly Me", which, while decent, sounds like a prototype of the sound found on "Core" and "I", and finally "Last Step" which is more of a forced outro than a closing track. These final three tracks would have been better relegated to bonus disk material, but instead their addition seems to skew the narrative of the album in an unmeaningful manner.

That's a rather minor grievance, though. The most glaring flaw of the album is perhaps its lack of musical peaks - those moments that stop you in your tracks and practically beg you to put them on repeat. Conversely, the album doesn't have many low-points either, which is an interesting feat to accomplish for such a dynamic record. It may not be the most memorable trip your ears will take, but Spinal Reflex is a journey that'll intrigue you at every step of the way.

Support the band!

Spinal Reflex on US iTunes

Spinal Reflex @ CDJapan

Spinal Reflex @ HMV

[enyx 903]

I think I just orgasmed when I opened MH to see an Aureole banner at the top of the page. 

 

I mostly agree with the general sentiments expressed in this review, though I'd say that my lasting impression is slightly more positive than yours. Whilst I don't think anything on the album manages to hit the same level of pure awesomeness that Core does (though I am rather fond of Inner Plane), I do nevertheless find the album's consistency to be mostly a positive thing. Whilst it's true that it would be nice to have a few more "killer" tracks, I also don't find myself feeling the need to skip any of the songs on the album either. By contrast, all of their previous albums have featured varying amounts tracks that I simply couldn't get into in addition to the ones that I loved. In that sense I'd actually go so far as to call this my favourite album of theirs when viewed as a complete package. I'm also not quite as down on the later tracks as you are. Though I agree that Last Step feels somewhat like a waste of time, I'm actually rather fond of Ghostly Me's new context within the album; it's much more 'raw' sounding than songs like I, Core, or Edit which gives it a lot of 'oomph' considering its placement towards the end of the tracklist.

 

For some reason the first half of 2015 has been rather disappointing for me as far as full-lengths go. There have been a few minis and singles that I've really enjoyed, but not so much in the way of albums. So to be honest, I'd actually say that this is my favourite full-length of the year so far. It could have been better for sure, but it's also not very easy to find any particular fault with either. It's just an all-round solid release and a nice bit of experimentation from an already experimental band.

[CAT5 9075]

I think I just orgasmed when I opened MH to see an Aureole banner at the top of the page. 

 

I mostly agree with the general sentiments expressed in this review, though I'd say that my lasting impression is slightly more positive than yours. Whilst I don't think anything on the album manages to hit the same level of pure awesomeness that Core does (though I am rather fond of Inner Plane), I do nevertheless find the album's consistency to be mostly a positive thing. Whilst it's true that it would be nice to have a few more "killer" tracks, I also don't find myself feeling the need to skip any of the songs on the album either. By contrast, all of their previous albums have featured varying amounts tracks that I simply couldn't get into in addition to the ones that I loved. In that sense I'd actually go so far as to call this my favourite album of theirs when viewed as a complete package. I'm also not quite as down on the later tracks as you are. Though I agree that Last Step feels somewhat like a waste of time, I'm actually rather fond of Ghostly Me's new context within the album; it's much more 'raw' sounding than songs like I, Core, or Edit which gives it a lot of 'oomph' considering its placement towards the end of the tracklist.

 

For some reason the first half of 2015 has been rather disappointing for me as far as full-lengths go. There have been a few minis and singles that I've really enjoyed, but not so much in the way of albums. So to be honest, I'd actually say that this is my favourite full-length of the year so far. It could have been better for sure, but it's also not very easy to find any particular fault with either. It's just an all-round solid release and a nice bit of experimentation from an already experimental band.

 

Yeah, I had a rough time trying to trying to come up with a rating that would accurately reflect my feelings on the album. A 3.5 would have been suitable too. But even tho the album doesn't have any major flaws, I still felt indifferent to it as a whole, so I figured a 3.0 (6/10) would be a good score for a solid release. None of the tracks were "bad", I just wish there were some epic moments like in "Incident Light" or moments that just completely captivated me like in "Dark Adaptation" or "Live Again".

 

But despite my reservations, I would also call this my fav. Aureole album as a whole too. "Core", "The House of Wafers", and "Inner Plane" were my favorite tracks. 

[Zeus 7997]

Damn @CAT5, that PV spot for Core sounds pretty good! I was turned off of this because I did not like Hatis Noit's tame solo project with Kaori Satoh but this is a completely different animal!