February 13, 2009

The Appleseed Cast – Sagarmatha

The Appleseed Cast – Sagarmatha
Score: 7.634

The Appleseed Cast has been pretty quiet for the past few years. The last we heard from the band was Peregrine in early 2006. Their wavering shift into post-rock-infused emo rather than straightforward indie-rock was starting to show.

With Sagarmatha, they took the momentum of the last album and produced an almost entirely instrumental record. It’s a bit unexpected at first, because we’ve become familiar with an interjection of vocals from Chris Crisci that separated them from Explosions In The Sky and the like. But the vocals rarely show up, and when they do they’re so drenched in reverb that they act more like an instrument than a means for delivering intelligible lyrics.

Fans of their older material will hear occasional returns to familiar melodies, but for the most part this is a whole new band. It’s almost as though Explosions In The Sky tried to make an Appleseed Cast record, and I’m not one to complain.

The Appleseed Cast – Raise the Sails

8 Responses to “The Appleseed Cast – Sagarmatha”

  1. On 02/14/09 9:17 PM, ben said:

    AMAAAAZING album. i love this band.

  3. On 02/15/09 11:12 PM, Jess Taylor said:

    I’m actually not too pumped on this album.
    It’s alright- but def. not their best.
    I’ll be seeing them later this month and I can only hope they don’t play much off this album…

  5. On 02/17/09 8:46 AM, Brett said:

    I quite like this album… it nods in the direction of the LLO albums while still being a progression from the last album.

  7. On 02/23/09 11:32 AM, Mark said:

    No offense but by the sound of your review, it seems like you’ve never heard anything else but Peregrine from this band.

    Other than that, I’d say your rating for the album is about right.

    Not too crazy about the album.

  9. On 02/23/09 11:43 AM, Ty said:

    Yeah, this record is great. If you need vocals just go pick up the Old Canes cd. I remember them saying a couple of years ago that they wanted to do a Pelicanesque ep. Not quite it on the heavy side of things, but much more melodic.

  11. On 03/9/09 11:20 PM, Joe said:

    The Explosions in the Sky comparison is just plain lazy, and inaccurate. Yes, they are playing mostly instrumental guitar rock, but that doesn’t mean they sound like EitS. In fact, many of the hallmarks of the ‘classic’ appleseed cast sound are found on this record, especially when compared to the incoherent departure that was Peregrine. They were also never a straighforward indie rock band. Early influences, Mineral, Sunny Day Real Estate, Braid, American Football, are all commonly label ‘emo,’ though distinct from what mainstream critics may label emo in the late noughties.

  13. On 03/10/09 1:07 AM, Josh Mock said:

    Yeah, in retrospect, the EitS comparison was a bit lacking on my part. An uninspired moment of writing, I guess. It happens.

    I love your site, though, Joe. Found many a great post-rock band thanks to The Silent Ballet!

  15. On 03/10/09 8:11 AM, Jay DiNitto said:

    I don’t think I’ve heard one song from this band.

ADVERTISEMENT

Leave a comment