Do Make Say Think
“You, You’re a History in Rust”
Constellation Records
4 Paws Out Of 5
There are some albums that should be listened to exclusively on headphones.
“You, You’re a History in Rust,” Do Make Say Think’s fifth full-length studio album, is one of them. The reason is simple: the Canadian group’s instrumental post-rock works best when it has your ears’ full attention, isolating you from the stray sounds you experience when listening in the car or on a home stereo. The album makes the most sense when it creates a small, private world between the listener and the music.
The world Do Make Say Think has crafted in its newest release is both dynamic and captivating. The production is nothing short of spectacular: the acoustic instruments are bright and warm, the drums are punchy and precise and the electric guitars are affected enough to sound part of the atmosphere but earnest enough to cut to the front of the mix.
And, with eight songs spanning the album’s 48 minutes, each pristine element adds to an impressive whole. The journey from simple, reserved ballad to frenzied, horn-blaring climax undergoes several incarnations over the course of the album, each with its own evolution. Even the quieter tracks (“You, You’re Awesome,” “A Tender History in Rust”) are handled as expertly as their thunderous neighbors (“Herstory of Glory,” “The Universe!”).
But what really makes “You, You’re a History in Rust” an album to listen to on headphones is the incredible amount of subtleties: the alternate left- and right-panning of acoustic guitars halfway through “A With Living,” the strums up and down a baby grand piano toward the end of “Executioner Blues,” and the musical saw singing in the background of “Bound to Be That Way” are just a few.
The problem with anything that strives to be its own self-contained world, however, is the necessity that it be seamless in order to be believable. While Do Make Say Think manages to keep most of its material convincing, there are sections that lapse into the predictable, trading in the visceral impulse of albums past for a more calculated progression. When the forces behind the song structures become especially evident is when the album is at its weakest.
Fortunately, during the album’s closing track, “In Mind,” this calculated approach is totally cast off, as an up-tempo acoustic groove suddenly erupts into layers of fuzz, modulating effects and distant vocals (courtesy of DMST pals Akron/Family), leaving the listener feeling more moved than manipulated, more a part of something than subject to it ““ which, after all, is what instrumental post-rock strives to do.