Upon my first listen to the new album Still, by The Cast Before the Break, I was instantly drawn in by the subtle ambience and beautiful instrumentation of the intro track, Mira. My brain quickly drew a comparison to the Austin, Texas group Explosions in the Sky, who happen to be one of my alltime favorite bands, due to the mature and well thought out composition of the song. This is not to say that they lifted anything from EITS because the music on this album certainly maintains it's own flare and personality.
This latest effort was recorded in the Spring of 2009 by Mike Lapierre (Brand New, Death Cab For Cutie), and it certainly sounds like they put a great deal of effort into it. The sound quality is very pleasing, definitely what you'd expect from a signed band......except that they have yet to be signed. I think this may change very soon.
The vocalist, TJ Foster, makes his entrance on the second track, Sleep. Amidst an ethereal soundscape of swelling delay and syncopated arpeggios he manages to swim through the vast instrumentation without getting lost in the mix or overpowering the music itself. At points he kind of reminds me of Geoff Rickley of the band Thursday but I actually like TJ's delivery a lot more than I ever liked Rickley's.
Still continued to hold my attention throughout it's entirety, which I'm very happy about because it makes my job of writing about it a lot more enjoyable. Personally, my favorite track on the album is Head on a String for it's dreaminess, passion, tasteful double-bass (which I'm a sucker for. I'm a harcore/metal guy at heart), and the crafty use of crescendos. Wait....I really like the song To Believe in Something (also has some pretty double-bass!)....this may be my favorite. Ahhh fuck it!!! The whole damn album is really good. Definitely keep an ear out for these guys because you're going to be hearing more about them in the not so distant future.
Check the album out for yourself at : http://www.gimmesound.com/thecastbeforethebreak/
It's available to listen to for free but I don't know how long it will be up there so go check it out!
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