Some songs make you wait for the payoff and are all the more effective for it. A David Gilmour solo just isn’t the same without the bitter anticipation that drags us there. The art of letting a song build without putting half the audience to sleep is a worthy endeavor. People forget how dynamic the greats were when we fixate too much on how loud they eventually got. Blind Atlas knows how to use silence and let their instrument layers breathe during verses. Their song Space Americans is a performance that’s intimate and welcoming for anyone passing by, all the while hiding the true nature of their potential energy.
When you’ve finally become enthralled in the shallow, minimalist mix of the song, you feel as if you’ve been slowly pulled out to sea by an ever-pulling tide. This is when the party finally starts and you’re abruptly hit by wave after wave of fast-paced rock instrumentation that does feel like a callback to those awesome louds and highs of some of rock’s greatest. This masterful use of dynamics energizes the song in an infectious way. Even when you know the push is coming, you still find yourself settling into the softer side of the song every time.
-Paul Weyer