The Four of Us Are Dying- Self-Titled EP
Label: Self-Release
Style: Post-Rock, Experimental, Indie Rock
Released: 2004
My Grade: 3.5 stars
AMG: n/a
Sounds like: Mogwai, Tortoise, Explosions in the Sky

A cheap and easy way to help explain what is right with the Four of Us Are Dying is illustrating first what is wrong with the big boys of the post-rock genre, Mogwai and Godspeed You Black Emperor!.

Though the music is obviously the most important thing, all aspects of the presentation matter: the liner notes, the album cover and title, the band’s name and song titles are excellent ways to get your point across, especially with instrumental music that’s open to interpretation. It says something about how seriously the artist takes their baby. Remember how much thought went into the Smiths’ covers, for example, or David Bowie’s? They take you into their world before you’ve heard a second of the music. And what was Mogwai’s last album cover? Silver and green. The group of Scottish male models has admitted that their song titles mean nothing at all (and record titles like Young Team and Rock Action don’t reveal much either). Godspeed You Black Emperor! puts photos of an unknown punk band in their liner notes. Both bands’ names are ludicrous. Why this waste? Yeah, one might say that the band doesn’t want to influence what the listener takes out of the music, but why lead me to believe that you’re lazy and have nothing to say?

The Four of Us Are Dying’s EPs come in individually painted record sleeves with rather bleak designs. The real vehicle for their message, however, is the booklet put together by drummer Jeff Zito. It’s full of 19 th-century lithographs depicting sailors lost at sea, children playing and scenes of loss, placed next to poems and quotes from unnamed novels, all centering around mortality and the finititude of things. The final page is simply a photo of a deer’s carcass hung in a tree, along with a hand-scrawled version of the famous line from Heart of Darkness: “The horror, the horror” (Zito is a vegan, but it’s powerful no matter how you feel about that). It may sound silly in writing, but it works.

Besides the problems I have about Godspeed! and Mogwai not making as strong a statement as they are able to, both bands have serious issues with song direction and overuse of drone. After the initial shock, their albums become turgid. Their minor merits deflate when placed next to influences Rachel’s and Glenn Branca. It’s as though a weight is lifted when you take the needle off. You want a drink of water.

In contrast, it’s a joy to listen to the Four of Us, even as they visit what could have easily been tired variations on tired post-rock themes (they even have a muffled clip of a 60’s chanteuse singing a lonely ballad during one of the breaks, if that isn’t cliched enough – but again, it works) like death and big, explosive, apocalyptic sounds. They know that the music actually has to lift, and more than every once in awhile. They know the value of brevity: the half-hour EP doesn’t ever become a burden. And, cripes, is that a hook? Is that a pop hook in a post-rock record? It’s not taboo here. Most important of all, the songwriting really is top-notch. It’s compelling, multi-layered and craves repeated listens. Mostly, it’s sublime, whether they’re dealing with dissonance or gorgeous harmonies.

And unlike their staunch, sleep-inducing peers the group knows how to kick out the jams. There’s no law saying that a band with a cello and a violin can’t rock out if they feel like it, and they understand that.

The album isn’t perfect, though. You aren’t quite going to need new pants. They deserve better production – it’s adequate for the most part, but at certain crucial points the guitars and the drums don’t have the kick they should. For a moment or two the drums get fuzzy and the instruments get a little lost. It doesn’t compare to their often improv-heavy live show. But these are minor gripes. The Four of Us Are Dying have made a rock-solid record in a desert of a genre. Bless ‘em for that.

Reviewed by: Ed

This album is available at http://www.thefourofus.com