Kontakte, We Move Through Negative Spaces

Before you write Kontakte off for their Explosions-In-The-Sky-ish guitars, listen to what’s behind them. In the second track, “Hope…,” the glitchy textures and eerily distorted digital voices start painting a picture of a type of post-rock that’s obviously picked up some cues from IDM and breakcore, but that doesn’t mean you would hear any of this album playing in a club — far from it.

Some of the tracks, like “Early Evening Bleeds Into Night,” go in a more earthy direction, with floaty acoustic guitar and piano bits that are more along the lines of chilled-out ambient music. The contrast between the airy melodies and the nearly frantic beats in “The Owls Won’t See Us In Here” and “The Ocean Between You and Me” creates a vibrant wall of sound with lots of interesting layers.

This being said, Negative Spaces doesn’t quite do it for me. Although there are enough distinguishing elements that they aren’t completely lost in the ambiguous ocean that is post-rock, there’s not much that makes your ears perk up, either. Sure, the guitars sound beautiful, and there’s some really creative arrangement in there — as a whole, however, the album just plays through without evoking too much. Perhaps I’m just too deeply stuck in my current rock & roll state of mind to accept the glitchy mellowness that is Kontakte’s signature. Regardless, I just can’t get too excited about another wall-of-sound album.

If you’re looking for something to listen to on a lazy rainy day, this might be a good choice — otherwise, it’s not something I would go out of my way to listen to.