ALBUM REVIEW: FOUR – SEIMS

Conversations. They’re our bread and butter. We couldn’t exist without them. It’s that simple. Of course, strip away the words they’re made up of and they’re much harder to have, right? There’s no way sound can capture the chaos and beauty the art of language lauds over us. There’s certainly no way sound can be as empowering and as individualistic as our own ability to talk. 

Until now. On FOUR, SEIMS – the post-progressive playground of multi-instrumentalist Simeon Bartholomew – offers up a magnum opus that majestically explores the nuances of language and the way we interpret it, and the way our different backgrounds and voices help us misinterpret it, too. In many ways, the album’s masterfulness can be attributed to those who helped make it. Whilst it was written and produced by Bartholomew, it features engineering from WE LOST THE SEA’s Tim Carr, mixing by SLEEPMAKESWAVES’ Alex Wilson, and TANGENTS’ Peter Hollo on cello among others. Simply put: it’s a post-rock who’s who behind the boards, and their wealth of experience is evident in every track.

Building on the jazz-driven, post-rock collision course that were 3’s adventures in the CMYK colour model, FOUR expands SEIMS‘ rainbow of sounds by doubling down on classical piano, orchestral strings, and 80s synths for a post-progressive punch-up. 

It’s in this musical punch-up that every track personifies the core concepts. Whereas many would believe it’s like listening to prison food slopped on a plate, as every genre known to man spontaneously combusts on every track; it’s actually the sound of conversations taking place, and the misinterpretations of them, with every instrument representing a different voice. 

Elegance Over Confidence takes its title literally as classical piano and jazz-pattern drums interweave, constantly dipping under and over each other as if the two concepts are competing in the mix. Elsewhere, Stranded. Isolated. immerses you in a dreamlike state of STRANGER THINGS inspired synths, as if you’re away with your thoughts, before snapping you back to reality with a barrage of machine-gun drums that feel like someone’s side of the argument coming at you. Every little detail is loaded with meaning, every moment exploring an aspect of our relationship with words and their meanings without saying any.

In the rare moments that vocals make an appearance – appearing only on Biting Tongues and The Mountain Screams – they only add to FOUR’s magic. Biting Tongues’ sporadic splashes of synths feel like thought bubbles forming, fleshing themselves out as polyrhythmic drum fills before haunting dual-vocal harmonies disorient you like conversation colliding – nothing is more poignant than Bartholomew singing ghostly lines like “I can hear the voices in the back of my head.”

Whereas 2017’s 3 condensed its ideas to just four tracks and 30 minutes (excluding its spin-off EPs), SEIMS spread their concepts across ten tracks and 45 minutes on FOUR. It undoubtedly makes all the difference, as every moment of musical space their instruments permeate, the more you learn about yourself and your interpretations of human conversation. Not a single second is wasted in this mountainscape of sound, and there’s so much to discover. If SEIMS aim was to craft an album worth returning to time after time, then they’ve done so in spades.

There are plenty of post-everything bands putting out instrumental albums. But there aren’t so many as masterful as SEIMS. FOUR is 45 minutes of pure perfection that few bands come close to in their entire career. 

Rating: 10/10

FOUR is set for release on October 22nd via Art As Catharsis Records, Bird’s Robe Records & Dunk Records.

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