[CD Review] TANGLED THOUGHTS OF LEAVING – Failed by Man and Machine

Call it what you will – prog, post rock, experimental, art rock, atmospheric – the new EP Failed by Man and Machine from Perth’s Tangled Thoughts of Leaving is all of the above and more. It’s a feast for your senses, an aural soundscape if you will, a piano driven, analog synth, beat laden mindfuck, heavy as shit without being heavy, cruisy without being complacent, repetitive without being repetitious.

Tangled Thoughts of Leaving emerged from the shadows of the Australian live scene with the release of their 2008 EP, Tiny Fragments and 2009 split EP with Sydney’s and one of Australias finest exponents of this genre sleepmakeswaves. While their EPs attracted attention from reviewers and punters alike, it’s their intense and fiercely engaging live act that this band have built their reputation on in Australia. It is their first release since their critically acclaimed debut Deaden The Fields in early 2012 and will be followed by their second full-length album due in late 2013.

Track one, ‘Dance before you Die’, lays the foundation of what is to come. Beautifully structured around an off-time groove, it would be the perfect elixir for a seedy Sunday morning, looking at your iphone wok-eyed for somewhere to score a brew.

Track two ‘(quakes)’, is my personal fave off the record. Somewhat reminiscent of the sounds that NZ heavyweights Jakob create, it’s an intertwining beautiful mess of noise that upon shutting your eyes, one could envision soaring over mountains as free as a bird, or hurtling through space aboard the Hubble Telescope witnessing distant stars in all their beauty.

Track three, ‘Failed by Man’, demands you entire attention (as does the whole album infact). The song demands that the listener devote their undivided consciousness to the experience. Vocals are absent but this is not background music.

The fourth song, ‘(tremors)’, goes for 2.42 min but it felt like an hour, and not in a bad way.

The final track, ‘Failed by Machine’, on this epic EP which features the talented musicians Ron Pollard on piano and synth ,BeHn Stacy on drums, Andrew McDonald on guitar and Luke Pollard on bass and samples provides the listener with an inner desire to go back to the beginning and listen to it all again.

These guys certainly GET it. Having toured with some of Australias premier acts and from those abroad including 65daysofstatic, Boris, Russian Circles, Grails,`Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group, Karnivool, The Ocean, sleepmakeswaves and Nadja, Tangled Thoughts of Leaving have the world as their oyster. These guys are sure to get snapped up by the music loving crowds of Europe on their upcoming tour later this year. I`d be suprised if they get back. Do yourself a favour, pick up the EP go and see them live while you can. Don`t be the one that is the last to hear about these guys. Get out, get into it and go the distance with them.

Birds Robe Records
8/10
Reviewer: Adam Barbuto