Dreamend

As much as parts of this mini-album are going to convince you otherwise, Dreamend aren’t just more "wake me when it gets interesting” post-rock. Get as far as the first two tracks and glance at the album cover and, sure, you’ve already got all the clichés: the long title, an extended build-and-climax instrumental that reeks of Explosions in the Sky, and with "In Her Little Bed We Lay Her” some spoken word. But right when you think you have this band pegged and half-forgotten, they take an odd turn: geek rock. Think older, better 12 Rods without the new-wave, juxtaposed and segmented into a sometimes predictable post-rock mould. "Can’t Take You (Dif)” coasts on a forgettable melody, but it’s with the hypnotic (but Sigur Rós-level repetitive) "Iceland” and epic closer "New Zealand” that the record finds the perfect balance between its two genres, finally capturing what they usually only hint at being capable of.