Review – Slow Six – Tomorrow Becomes You (Western Vinyl, 2010)

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More ambient/drone/post rock / neoclassical goodness…this time from Western Vinyl label.
“Tomorrow” is a third album for Slow Six, a band that is in no way related to Dirty Three, but shares some of that band’s penchant for telling stories without using words. It’s a collection of 7 instrumental vignettes built on a combination of electronic and live sounds.
The album opener – “The Night You Left New York” – starts out as a slow ambient piece, but later turns into a fairly energetic number involving violin, electronic effects and guitar/drums. “Cloud Cover (Pt.1)” feels like its building up to a climax, but nothing ever comes out of this and instead it remains a mid-tempo track until the end.
“Cloud Cover (Pt.2” is an abstract/drone piece with voice samples – and a pleasant one at that, but it also never goes anywhere in particular, as it becomes even more quiet towards the middle/end, with violin sounds piercing the silence.
“Because Together We Resonate” starts out with the sounds of radio being tuned, an abstract bridge that follows and the final (and fairly beautiful) section that combines violin sounds and electronic bleeps/gurgles. “Sympathetic Response System (Pt. 1)” have a certain futuristic/sci-fi quality to it (and its energetic too), while second part is more quiet/retrospective.
Album closes with “These Rivers Between Us” – another piece that combines violin, drums and guitars and it never settles the question of whether it wants to be a loud rocker or a quiet one.
Its a good album, for sure, but it could’ve been even better, if it wasn’t for certain parts of it that simply lead nowhere. But if you’re interested in the trip itself as much as the end point of a destination, then this might be an album for you.
Note – Below is a video for the band’s song “The Pulse Of This Skyline With Lightning Like Nerves” off of their 2007 album “Nor’easter”