What We’ve Come to Expect, Love

Many bands are expected to bring something radically new to the table every time they commit sound to tape.

Texan post-rockers Explosions in the Sky are not among them.

Over the course of six studio albums and one film soundtrack (“Friday Night Lights”), the band has honed its unique brand of instrumentalism to being unmistakably Explosions in the Sky while rarely adding new sounds to the mix – and no one’s complaining.

“Take Care, Take Care, Take Care,” the quartet’s latest release on Temporary Residence Records, is another solid, if unspectacular, effort. There aren’t any moments as emotionally stirring as the bare piano line in “So Long, Lonesome” or as earthshakingly climactic as the first crescendo in “First Breath After Coma,” but the six tracks on the LP are all quintessential examples of the Explosions in the Sky sound.
-
Opener “Last Known Surroundings” and album highlight “Postcard from 1952” showcase the band’s penchant for glimmering beauty, while the short, almost punchy “Trembling Hands” sees the band veering dangerously close to radio-friendly territory.

That’s fair: Explosions in the Sky has become the biggest post-rock band on the planet; not as genre-bending as Mogwai, not as cult-worshiped as Godspeed You! Black Emperor, but inarguably a crucial band in the scene and one that grows nearer to our hearts with each release.