Exploring Music — Narrative Post Rock
When I started attending college away from home, I found myself clinging tighter to the few things that keep me sane, growing a deeper appreciation for those things in and of themselves. One of those things I’ve become attached to is music, and I find myself often times listening to music quietly just about any time I need to escape.
The topic of this blog today will be on one of my current favorite genres that I’ve discovered while attending George Fox University — post-rock.
Well, specifically, post-rock ambiance with a narrative is specifically the favorite sort of post-rock, though, there are plenty of albums within the genre of standard post-rock that I’ve appreciated as well.
“But what is Post Rock, or specifically, ‘Post-rock ambiance with a narrative’?” you might be asking. Well, I’m glad you asked, other half of this imaginary conversation.
Characteristics of post-rock are hard to describe and are best described when one can hear it, so I’ll start with that, by sharing a good piece here:
Most post-rock is characterized by an emphasis on the instruments, typically those you’d find in standard rock and metal. However, the way I’d describe how post rock’s difference from standard or punk or the other forms of rock is HOW the instruments are played — in a slow sense for lower keys, and a faster sense for crazier moment — as well as the feel the songs go for — a feeling melancholy meets relaxing warm sunset.
On that last point, much of post-rock, I would say, seems to have a conflict to it, with it expressing that conflict through a mixture of slow melodies mixed with fast, chaotic, mayhem.
This leads into my favorite of the genres within post-rock, ambient post-rock narratives.
The Chasing Monster’s album “Tales” is a great example of this genre.
In this album, the music tells a tale of what seems to be the last two humans on earth, as they huddle around a fire for warmth, telling each other stories as darkness surrounds them. Through this story, the artists explore ideas such as the Porcupine Dilemma — a social theory that more or less claims humanity needs closeness to survive, but that getting too close can hurt those around you, and like a group of porcupines in winter, humans need to find that balance staying close to keep warm, and keeping distant to stay unhurt. It’s brilliantly intriguing, so if you (the reader) are interested in this genre, I’d give it a listen.
Another example of this narrative form of post-rock would be Autumn Creatures’ album “Funeral Garden”
I actually found this album within the week before returning to George Fox, and I just have to say, it’s an emotional roller coaster. The narrative is akin to a therapy session, where the client/patient is sitting down and just verbalizing her emotions and thoughts, giving pause to the music as it goes throughout the piece, and speaking mostly at the beginning and ends of each song (though, some songs carry the voice over, as they play along with what is being said).
The part to this album that catches me off guard is just the power behind the words being spoken — my favorite quote being: “I think that as you get older you understand these things better . . . If you’re lucky, you remain in a state of gratitude for everything you have. I never took any of that for granted while it was happening. But what I took for granted, was that would always be there.”
Just those lines and many others like those stand out as amazing, which is why I loved this album.
To give a third (and much longer album) would be False Horizon’s “Transition”
This one takes a step back from narrative post-rock kind of. It focuses more on the roots of post-rock, letting much of the music/instruments do most of the talking. However, does have a couple songs where words do play a part, with the standout one (for me at least) being the song titled “Fate Falling Upwards.”
I won’t go into detail on this song, just because I don’t see a point of getting THAT detailed at this point. Suffice to say though; it’s a good song also.
With that all written, I hope this genre showcase was interesting.
