ALBUM REVIEW: City Islands – Postcards From New Zealand

The past 15 months have given musicians and creatives what can be seen as a wealth of inspiration. Whilst not exactly a particularly positive well to draw from, there is ample chance for one to channel their frustrations and rage at the state of the world into a work that can reflect on the strange times that we now live in. After 13 years and 21 full length albums, POSTCARDS FROM NEW ZEALAND continue to soundtrack the surreal worldwide events with their new album City Islands, the third part of their We Watched Them Devour series of records.

Musically, the aim here is generate an atmosphere, with POSTCARDS FROM NEW ZEALAND spending time developing and experimenting more with electronic soundscapes. Opening number As The Towers Crumbled begins with an oscillating electronic wave, before distorted guitars play a melodic ostinato that remains the theme throughout the track, as the layers build on top of each other, and sets the tone for the remainder of the record in terms of structure.

Repetition is a constant throughout the album, which gets a little wearing as melodic ideas never seem to change. The guitar line that runs throughout Snow And Sand gives a constant theme to the song, but would be elevated by some more variation in the dynamics. Some of the more subtle electronic effects used throughout the are fascinating though, throbbing away menacingly in the mix.

The centrepiece of the album is the near 17 minute Ocean Avenue, which contains some of the best atmospherics on the record. It opens with an eddying wave of calming synths, before giving way to a steady beat and guitar line that harkens to some of the best post rock bands around. Again, the central issue is that once the central melodic idea has played out a few times, it just seems to repeat over and over again, but without ever developing or varying in dynamic level. Consequently, the atmospherics that the group are going for are sadly lost or unable to draw one in.

It is somewhat ironic that the final track on the record is entitled It Just Kept Coming, for unfortunately that is the overwhelming feeling throughout the record. Repetition is all very well and good, but it only works when it is used to effectively build an atmosphere or mood, and here it just feels like it is being used as a technique to pad things out.

There are some good ideas here, but sadly POSTCARDS FROM NEW ZEALAND do seem occasionally to rest on their laurels musically. It would be really exciting to see the group stretch themselves dynamically, as this will see them generate the atmospheres that they so clearly want to invoke.

Rating: 5/10

City Islands is out now via Mandrone Records.

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