Hammock – Elsewhere – Album Review
by Killian Laher

American composers Hammock have been releasing albums for the last 15 years or so.  They make almost entirely instrumental music that draws equal parts from modern classical music and the slower end of guitar-based shoegaze.  Their music floats along, it almost billows in the clouds.  Most recently they released a trilogy of albums, Mysterium, Universalis and Silencia, which were collectively as strong a set of music as the duo have ever released.

On this evidence, they haven’t used up all their ideas yet.  Before acts as a kind of celestial introduction.  Two of the strongest tracks follow it, Heavy Laden soars moodily while the guitar in Afraid To Go Home makes it as epic as anything this genre of music has put out.  The ghost of Sigur Ros seems to hang over In The Empty Space You Used To Breathe and the title track, with backwards sounds and strings to the fore.  Other highlights include the glacial majesty of Dying Alone and the ringing guitars in What You Need Isn’t There and Take Another Drink From My Hands.

Like most of their albums, it works best as a whole rather than individual tracks.  This one is more concise than their last few albums, making this a good introduction to the band.

Heavy Laden