Album Review: Fourteen Nights At Sea - Great North

Cinematic. Evocative. Atmospheric. Words that are permanently linked to the post-rock movement and which are all suitable in describing Fourteen Nights at Sea's second full length LP Great North. From the opening, delay affected, shimmering guitar of Glass Monster, it is clear why this five-piece deserves to be on brilliant local label Hobbledehoy alongside Lymbyc Systym and This Will Destroy You. The tune never falls into cliché build-up-crescendo-core rock; rather, it creates a dark, melancholic and insular world through delicate and restrained guitar work before finally exploding in a fury at the end – recent This Will Destroy You comparisons are inevitable and worthy.

Menacing, Tim Hecker reminiscent drone piece Stalking Horse evokes the 'great north' of the title more so than any other thing here; its abstract instrumentation and icy production will not be to everyone's tastes, but it's brilliant seeing the band explore confronting sonic ideas.

Great North, for the most part, achieves every goal it lines up. The group explore sonic texture with confidence and aplomb. There isn't anything terribly original about the record, at times it feels a little like 'Explosion in the Sky plays the post-rock classics', but there is hardly a thing wrong about it, either. The band knows epic beauty, Tired Hands is simply gorgeous, and they sure know power – closer Ghost is a rocker from the word go. Most impressively though, the group clearly understands the importance of flow. The album stands as a complete work, channelling its way between confrontational walls of guitar sound and the dark crevices of lost noise between them. Great North does not reinvent the genre, but it's a brilliant Australian record and for fans of TWDY or modern instrumental/post-rock in general it's utterly essential.