Texan four-piece Explosions in the Sky have developed an international cult following as their post-rock instrumentals have appeared everywhere from film soundtracks to TV trailers. However, drummer Chris Hrasky recently quipped that the last fate the band want for their sixth album is for it to accompany “rousing sports montages”. It’s unlikely, as the band have taken a detour from trademark glacial beauty into more pensive, sinister terrain. Thus, among The Wilderness’s gentle pianos and Eno-like ambience are percussive depth charges, industrial machine-like sounds and frantic math-rock. The lovely Colors in Space suddenly erupts into jarring noise reminiscent of Hitchcock’s Psycho. It works, though, because the melodies are as strong as ever, and among the darker shades, the lighter moments wallop home. Tangle Formations and Infinite Orbit are terrific tunes, and the elementally softly rocking Landing Cliffs makes a spectacularly pretty climax to another beautifully understated epic.
