Explosions in the Sky - All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone

2007, Temporary Residence

Style: post-rock

From the sound of the detractors, you’d think Explosions in the Sky is the new AC/DC, with a ton of same-sounding albums. This is, of course, only their 4th studio album (and you can pretty much forget the 1st one, a not-yet-ready-for-prime-time release that the band resisted reissuing until fan demand became too great to ignore). On the surface, this sounds very much like the past 3 albums, but to leave things at that is to make a very shallow comparison. The last album took away some of the edge from the band’s 2nd album, while this album regains some of that edge in a more concise form. Instrumental buildups are more abbreviated here, and some piano-driven melodies add some extra color to the band’s typical twangy guitar sound. This is an excellent album, I’d probably rank it #2 behind 2001’s “Those Who Tell the Truth….”. It does seem to be a bit of a transitional album, and hopefully the band will continue to diversify around their great core sound.