ALBUM REVIEW: Illusory Walls – The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die
If you’ve ever put yourself through the punishing pain of a couple of hours of Dark Souls, you’ll know all about Illusory Walls. They’re surfaces that appear solid but are in reality illusions, often concealing secret passages and hidden objects.
On a surface-level, the title of post-rock collective THE WORLD IS A BEAUTIFUL PLACE & I AM NO LONGER AFRAID TO DIE’s fourth album is an homage to their pandemic boredom-buster. Dig a little deeper and you’ll find it reflects the mental walls they’ve overcome, a document of time standing still for a band who’ve always looked to push boundaries.
Whilst 2015’s Harmlessness and 2017’s Always Foreign felt like adding silverware to the second wave of midwest emo’s trophy cabinet, Illusory Walls sees TWIABP&IANLATD take their past off of its pedestal. Rather than throw it away or bask in sepia-toned nostalgia, they’ve painted it in with equal shades of indie-pop, post-rock, and shoegaze for their most definitive outing yet.
Opener Afraid To Die washes glistening waves of softening shoegaze over your eardrums before exploding into a post-rock collision course that coalesces their midwest emo past with their new-found sound. From here on out, listening to Illusory Walls is like retracing TWIABP&IANLATD’s musical pilgrimage.
Illusory Walls‘ shining light is the contagious chemistry that’s suddenly clicked between vocalists David Bello and Katie Dvorak. Their haunting harmonies permeate the angst and anxiety that riddles their soundscapes, whilst Dvorak’s increased involvement threatens to steal the show at times. Single Queen Sophie For President is jangle-pop turned post-rock, Dvorak’s honey-soaked vocals glazed over Chris Teti’s fiery fretwork.
In the age of streaming services and single culture, TWIABP&IANLATD must be applauded for ending Illusory Walls on two songs that total half of its nearly 70-minute runtime. Infinite Josh and Fewer Afraid, totalling 15 and 20 minutes respectively, can only be likened to listening to humanity make its first steps on the moon. Jam-packed with callbacks, easter eggs and references, the former is a spiritual successor to Always Foreign’s Infinite Steve, whilst the latter condenses their entire career into a single song. Few bands could be bothered to even begin a tour-de-force like that, let alone go ahead with it, and yet TWIABP&IANLATD make easy work of making a masterpiece.
If the world around you scares you, Illusory Walls might not be the record for you. Lyrically, it takes a microscopic look at macro topics, from taking on the Catholic Church to revisiting the Sago Mine disaster – every moment takes a bigger picture and zooms in. Most notably, it’s their personal struggles that make the most vital listening – from Dvorak’s take on the tenacity of oppression through her own injuries, to Bello’s battle with accepting potential onsets of dementia. It’s demanding, but rewarding, for whoever can make it through its wilderness.
On Illusory Walls, TWIABP&IANLATD graduate from midwest emo disciples to post-rock masters. This isn’t an album for the faint hearted, but for those who take it on, the rewards outweigh the risks on their best album yet.
Rating: 9/10
Illusory Walls is out now via Epitaph Records.
Like THE WORLD IS A BEAUTIFUL PLACE & I AM NO LONGER AFRAID TO DIE on Facebook.