Recipients of a Western Australian government grant, recorded locally but mastered in Sweden, allows the band to develop a contrary sound and engage the listener in sounds oblique enough to capture the imagination. With tracks rambling along to over ten minutes and sometimes 15 minutes in length, it is an achievement in this present age of digital quick fire play-delete almost ADD syndrome affliction. In the vein of Australian post-rock luminaries Because Of Ghosts and This Is Your Captain Speaking, Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving favour instrumental light and shade, loud and quiet tangents and advance their witches brew of genre skipping sounds which has led to support slots for unlikely bands such as Karnivool and doom merchants, Nadja.
With six tracks breaking the hour mark confirms they like to squeeze every remaining drop from an idea. For example, the Dungeons & Dragons titular They Found My Skull In The Nest Of A Bird conjures warlocks, dragons and noisemeisters like Mogwai. Neatly sectioned off from usual reference points, Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving can just as easily be the aggressor with blood on its hands or the peace seeking dove attempting to protect its young from attack. But wildly oscillating between genres does not always grant the favours their wide eyed vision hopes, but by and large and mercifully, they manage to avoid irrelevance.
Occasionally you can imagine that the band has devolved into some ludicrous folly before they return to the realisation of what this record is about and come across as eager to please. Although you cannot accuse Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving as leaving you catatonic with boredom. In a nutshell, Deaden The Fields is not for everybody. The songs are long the frustrations are many, but if you are in a certain sort of mood, there may little in the world that will get your rocks off quite so satisfyingly.
BY BRONIUS ZUMERIS
Best Track: Landmarks
If You Like This, You’ll Like These: MOGWAI, MILES DAVIS, HAWKWIND
In A Word: Abstract
