This Will Destroy You
Young Mountain (2006)
Brian Shultz
For all the sleeve-wearing they do of their influences, This Will Destroy You have done a stunning job on their first release, Young Mountain, of entrancing the listener with gripping, emotional instrumental compositions. In an ever-crowding subgenre, This Will Destroy You have crafted an effort as forthright, captivating and enjoyable as nearly any of their peers or predecessors.
According to Mapquest, This Will Destroy You's hometown of San Marcos, TX is estimated to be a 33-minute drive from Austin, TX. Austin is the birthplace of Explosions in the Sky, arguably post-rock's currently most heralded and possibly best-selling band (depending on how Mogwai is doing these days) not named Sigur Rós. To say This Will Destroy You is void of any influence from their fellow statesmen would be to say…well, something incredibly erroneous.
This Will Destroy You employ the same basic instrumentation and work the same type of pretty, twinkling and rippling guitars to the point of beautiful, mighty explosions (pun not intended) as that very band. However, they do a nearly as impressive job, and often in shorter doses. The typical Explosions full-length will contain six songs spanning 47 minutes, while This Will Destroy You produce a comparably tidy six in 36 here. This just essentially means that the reviewed band in question hits their climax(es) much sooner. However, it should probably be noted that the band considers Young Mountain an EP -- God only knows how long its followup full-length will be (self-titled and slated for release on Magic Bullet later this year).
There's an assorted handful of other breathtaking moments, though. Even just an accentuation on the transition to the climax in "Quiet" by way of a couple precisely executed, epic drum slams seems awestruck-inducing. Two-and-a-half minutes into "I Believe in Your Victory," dual guitars suddenly shimmer gorgeously to make up the latter end of the song's main burst. "Grandfather Clock" is an interesting piece, refraining from any buildup but more dependent upon some low-lying, lightly static-inflected electronics and heartstring-tugging keyboard measures. In "There Are Some Remedies Worse Than the Disease," guitars seem to talk up a storm, and suddenly find a rush of urgency in the dark, cloudy buildup and energetic, abrupt tailspin, ending Young Mountain in fine fashion; however, even its preceding number, "Happiness: We're All in It Together" would've closed it fine, too, with its strains of moaning violins slowly dragging up to the track's hilly peak and accompanying us back down.
Young Mountain is one of the lost gems from 2006 (2005 if you count its original DIY release), but here's to hoping that self-titled LP doesn't go too unnoticed.