Post-rock comes to us in many forms. It has a vast and expandable net that can be cast to the furthest reaches of the musical spectrum. Guitar orientated in design with the ability to metamorphize and mould into many things, it’s a style of music that feeds off experimentation. Hailing from Paris, France, Automata are a band that have taken the post-rock blueprint and simply let their thoughts and ideas modify and alter its appearance.
Heart Murmur is seven tracks of experimental and forward-thinking music that exposes its electronic heart on its sleeve and chronicles its own journey with carefully chosen narrated passages that embellish and expand their already layered sound.
On A Wire opens the album with the words “stay safe, please look after each other, take care” and a sweet and soft acoustic riff that casually plucks its way through an airy, synthesised breeze. Slow, patient and beautifully simplistic in design the music grows and builds, layer upon layer, occasionally dipping under a deep brooding bass line, making everything feel wonderful! This is music to soothe a weary soul, music to lift the spirits and add a splash of positivity in an otherwise troubled world.
Sad Guru, although solemn in title, has this gentle, kinetic energy to it and a hefty slice of sincerity emanating from it. The drums are a joy to listen to on this track as the sticks literally spring off every cymbal, sending reverberations through the rest of the track. Lead swells manoeuvre and bounce between those percussive rumblings while more electronica binds everything together. Keyboards are used for the first time on Mad Motor, and as the name suggests, there’s a little bite to this track, with that distorted guitar revving and building in power. Mogwai in sound, the track uses another spoken passage, and it really adds to the vibe and the emotion found in the music.
Killing Spiders is laced with all those nuances and subtleties we have experienced in the rest of the tracks, with added scratching and plenty of delicious tremolo guitars shredding above some very contrasting drum patterns. Processions closes the album, again showing the mastery and the ingenuity in adapting a narrated passage into a musical composition. At over eighteen minutes long ( if you hang around through the extended silence!) the track traverses through many lifeforms, from aggressive, tribal percussions to heartwarming acoustic theatrics, with splashes of Caspian adorning the final three minutes.
So, if you want post rock that’s experimental and laced in electronica, then Automata are a band for you. If you want something a little different and very forward thing, then Automata are still for you! Be sure to drop by their Bandcamp page and support this wonderful scene of ours!