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The Receiving End Of Sirens

The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi

Written by: TL on 25/10/2007 00:09:22

This next review I have a better excuse for postponing, you see I have simply needed oceans of time to first understand the qualities of The Receiving End Of Sirens' second album "The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi", and then decide what in the world to grade it. In point of fact, as I'm writing this introduction while listening to the album for time number God knows what, I still don't know. Hopefully I'll know before I get to the end eh?

Now what I CAN do is first of all dispel some seemingly common misconceptions about the band and their music. TREOS is a band that has been somewhat associated with the scene and thus there's a lot of people I know who expect them to play some of your regular emo/post-hardcore/punk/whatever style of music. If you do that, I can easily see why you might be confused and/or disappointed. Their last effort "Between The Heart And The Synapse" was an extremely coherent and layered beast of a record, and "The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi" doesn't leave much to be desired in that department. In fact, what has changed between the records, is that the energetic outbursts that distinguished the previous record have been completely restrained on the new one. Effectively making it seem even deeper and more layered and.. I'm tempted to say pretentious, but in all honesty that's simply because the vast amount of things going on is downright intimidating, even to me as a reviewer.

Thus "The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi" is the kind of record you really have to put on while you lean back and let yourself be completely consumed by it, because listening to it while doing anything actively won't leave you the attention that's needed to understand even a fraction of what's going on. In my opinion the less energetic style is a slight drawback, as it used to offer a doorway into the super experimental soundscape the band utilizes. "The Earth..." is just vast and dense and seemingly impenetrable and unless you have a taste for the very grandest of artistic displays, getting into it might be more than you can handle. It's like being pounded in the face by a hammer of sheer beauty, or like reaching for a shining ladder into heaven that's just a bit too far away. Like a Tool record, made out of light instead of darkness. A brilliant but intimidating challenge.

Download: Swallow People Whole, Smoke And Mirrors
For the fans of: Circa Survive, Boys Night Out, Tool
Listen: MySpace

Release Date 08.07.07
Triple Crown Records