Haunting, surreal, magnificent - four tracks and 30+ minutes of spacey, deliberate, winding guitar beauty. Put this on repeat and talk about your greatest fairy-tale daydreams all night long.
Real music transports the listener; it puts them in a place and frame of mind that allows for everything to be forgotten; the music’s all that matters. It’s special when you’re able to find an album, and for that one album, you’re hanging on every change in vocal inflection, every chord progression, every pitter-patter of the drums working throughout.
Needless to say, those albums don’t come around all that often.
Telesthesia, however, Telesthesia is one of those albums. Released in 2003 by Aurore Rien, only their second recorded output, this album is a brilliant piece of post-rock that is no doubt standing the test of time. They may not be as revered as Sigur Ros, or prolific as Explosions In the Sky, but in their own little niche, they fill the largest of shoes. It’s always hard to be objective about an album that you really love, but biases or not, this truly could be one of your favorite records too.
This trio has been listening to a lot of Dirty Three and June of 44, with plenty of Sonic Youth thrown in. No, there isn’t a fiddle player, but the band’s tendency toward grand statement is what I was thinking of with that first reference. Four songs here, and they manage to roll on for almost 35 minutes. I barely noticed.
Languid is a nice word to use when describing the sound. There’s a quiet intensity to the pieces, a sharp focus that hides a bit behind some of the most entrancing waves of sound I’ve heard in a while.
Aurore Rien doesn’t make me marvel at the complexity of the sound. There are three members of the band, and that’s quite apparent. The lack of studio accouterments, however, allows the precise thought processes behind the songs to bloom more fully.
You know I love to talk about musical lines and the wonderment of points of intersection. I enjoy the lines themselves here so much that Aurore Rein almost makes me forget to listen for the moments of tension. Quite a fine little disc.
This little fellow of an EP, just 4 songs, turns out to be quite rewarding. The four songs, averaging 8 minutes in length, fades out in just over 34 minutes. This is Indie rock for the faint of heart.
I can�t say enough about how much I love this CD. When I got the CD I didn�t know what to expect from the somewhat new age name and album art. This CD just won�t leave my player. The song �Breakaway, Sydney� is pinched between an old time speeches about mining, and proves to be one of the best of the four songs. With a band name that translates down to �morning nothingness�, they should be arrested for false advertising. I anticipate these guys picking up some good publicity with their unique sound that is packed with simple instruments creating delicate hums. I imagine the atmosphere of their concerts is very quiet and stirring. The other songs on the album are equally great to �Breakaway, Sydney� but you have to experience them for yourself.
This is an A+ EP. I want to hear more from these fellows.
You emotional kids! In just four tracks we get two of the more softhearted titles imaginable: �Hearts Murmur Under Halogen Lights,� and �Sunsets, I Have Seen Too Many Without You.� As sappy as the titles are, it may be equally sappy to assert that Aurore Rien effectively impose their sentiment on the listener through stunning composition rather than relying solely on words to relay a message; sappy but from this perspective, true. This band comes through clearer than most musicians could dream of.
Aurore Rien create music with a touch so delicate, their compositions flow without friction like matter placed in a vacuum. There simply cannot be enough emphasis put on just how affectionately fragile these works are. Much of the body is created through repetition, though it�s all with such precision and care that each replication becomes astonishing and eagerly awaited; Aurore Rien will have you hanging on every note.
Each track is easy to pick apart with a little focus, but it�s so much easier to just sit back and experience these entirely homogeneous works in their comprised form. There is a great amount happening here at such subtle levels that each slight variation can go consciously unnoticed, though still somehow comprehended as propelling the composition. These tracks come through as gracefully as the calmest breeze on an open plane with a quality that is just as inescapable. Even the unrefined climax of �Hindsight 20/20� comes through with clean benevolence. Absolutely nothing is out of place here.
It would seem that the release of Telesthesia brings with it the breakup of Aurore Rien - yet another premature split. This particular split is truly a shame, as a vast majority of bands will never sound as good as Aurore Rien manage to sound on this EP. Regardless of the state of the band, Telesthesia should not be overlooked by anyone remotely concerned with music, it�s deluged with a quality of precise intent that very few seem capable of an even fewer practice.
