Building the State - Faces in the Architecture 10" NGO 016
Both indie and math rock can easily degenerate into dispassion on their own. Combining the two should increase that possibility exponentially, making Building the State’s latest EP all the more remarkable.
Ringing guitars, complex bass lines, precision drumming, indie rock vocals and ambient sound make up layer upon layer of distinct, yet intertwined noise. Unlike most vocal music where the instrumentation just provides backing for a voice, Building the State is made up of strictly equal parts. In a sense, they seem to be conceptually more like an instrumental group. They capture the ambling pace of indie rock and have just enough pop sense to mask their math rhythms. With only four tracks over its 20 minutes, the songs have room to develop into multi-part pieces, but the transitions are so smooth that the movement from passage to passage is almost imperceptible, moving from the calm before the storm to the storm itself before anyone even notices. This is a pristine album without being cold. It feels loose, but is actually incredibly tight and that’s no easy feat.
In a nutshell, Faces in the Architecture draws the best from both indie and math and the combination is on par with the best that both genres have to offer.