North Atlantic Oscillation – Grind Show
With Grind Show, North Atlantic Oscillation continue to expand the sonically rich and vibrant universe they’ve created for themselves
Post-rock, prog, alternative: these are just some of the labels that have been used to describe North Atlantic Oscillation’s work to date. Yet they're a band that consistently confound categorisation, with 2014’s The Third Day being their most fully-realised genre-defying vision up to that point. How to follow it? Well, by continuing to push their own boundaries of course.
On their fourth album Grind Show, the band traverse even further into myriad musical territories. It’s an album that’s deeply textured with twists at seemingly every turn. Fruitful Little Moons contains a flurry of skittering percussion and chopped-up brassy sounds, while Sirens announces itself with loops in reverse and a wave of static. The sense of grandeur that they bring to the record is only heightened by the waves of guitar riffs that often accompany Grind Show’s most epic moments. North Atlantic Oscillation bring many of these together into a gargantuan climax on Fernweh.
There are unfortunately times where Grind Show can feel lengthy; its slightly more mid-tempo middle passage in particular can feel a bit sluggish and meandering in comparison to its more urgent and immediately arresting moments. Despite this, it's an album where North Atlantic Oscillation continue to expand the sonically rich and vibrant universe they’ve created for themselves.
Listen to: Fruitful Little Moons, Hymn