Essex trio In a House of Heartbeats plays a dark style of post-rock that bridges over into goth and post-rock with shoegazing tendencies. The first dirge they open with finds the guitar filling the gaps where the vocals would be if they existed. They use many familiar sounds that border on psychedelic, but help to create the kind of dark tapestry that feels like clove cigarettes might be smoked to it if there was a low baritone croon that characterizes this sort of thing. I like the first song, but unsure if these sounds alone are enough to keep my attention.
On "Cambion" they continue to remind me of Russian Circles as they bring a heavier stomp, thanks in part to the hammering tone of their bass player. The problem with what they are doing is that the songs might begin to sound the same, but let's see what happens. "Parasomniac" finds samples helping to create a narrative as they experiment with more atmospheric elements. It is more like an interlude; they continue to flirt with darker sounds, taking them in a more sweeping post-rock direction when they kick back into the next proper song.
The tempo picks up for the jangle of "Head Full of Ghosts."There is a more rock-minded riff for the chorus. Midway through the song, it drops out into space. Some of the moods it winds around remind me of the kind of prog dynamics Tool would later employ. It is an 11-minute song, so perhaps that is what stirs this comparison. "Drift into Sleep" is an ambient interlude that I am not going to count for the purpose of this review. The last song drifts off in its atmosphere and follows a more typical post-rock formula. I will give this album an 8.5; it works well for what they are doing and I appreciate the darker direction they are taking this genre. Out on Ripcord Records.
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