ALBUM REVIEW: Dutch Elm – Dutch Elm
Fans of riff heavy post-rock rejoice, DUTCH ELM are here to fill the place in your heart that bands like AND SO I WATCH YOU FROM AFAR and RUSSIAN CIRCLES usually occupy with a fantastic mix of intricate math inspired guitar work and hazy atmospheres. Hailing from Newcastle upon Tyne and led by guitarists Matthew Mckenna and Lewis Hickey, DUTCH ELM are the exciting new kids on the math and post-rock block. Finding a middle ground between DELTA SLEEP style intimate clean guitars and PELICAN inspired distorted riffs, the quartet’s self-titled debut album stands out as one of the year’s most unique instrumental rock releases.
Straight out of the gate DUTCH ELM set themselves up as future stars of the ArcTanGent scene with the frantic start and stop energy of opening track Transmitter. While featuring enough memorable guitar work to keep the listener humming all week, Transmitter keeps you guessing which direction it’s going in next, jumping frantically between styles all while steadily building up to a satisfying, riff-heavy conclusion. Despite thriving in the underground, the UK’s math and post-rock scenes can be famously impenetrable to newcomers, DUTCH ELM waste no time in establishing themselves as candidates for the experimental world’s newest hyperfixations.
While a simple setup of two guitars, bass and drums may be a hindrance to some artists DUTCH ELM stretch their restrictions to their fullest, clashing instruments against each other to craft dense textures and walls of blown-out riffs. The tracks You’re Not Invited To That Riff and Sitting There Thinking show off the four-piece’s vast range of sounds, from jazzy percussion to turbulent oceans of opposing riffs to melodramatic, guitar-based war cries. Despite none of this being totally new territory, few bands in the scene manage to bring together so many disparate styles with such ease and grace.
Although much of DUTCH ELM’s self-titled debut album keeps things relatively stripped back, the closing track Soledad Brother takes a more maximalist approach which is sure to appeal to fans of OVERHEAD, THE ALBATROSS, throwing everything the quartet have left into a grandiose four minute conclusion. Starting out simply with competing sliding and tapping guitar lines backed by a straightforward drum beat before adding repeating vocals which ramp up from a single voice to an army, dragging the rest of the instrumentation behind them, culminating in a solid wall of battling guitars and percussion for a spectacular finale. Closing their debut album with a bang, DUTCH ELM lean heavily into the over the top textures of many of their post-rock heroes, leaving the listener overwhelmed and ready for more.
Flowing effortlessly between the intense and the intimate, DUTCH ELM prove they have what it takes to be the niche post-rock scene’s next obsession. Stretching their simple setup to its limit, this Newcastle quartet run the gamut between delicate math rhythms and ferocious post-metal riffs.
Rating: 8/10
Dutch Elm is out now via Ripcord Records.
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