How Comes the Constellations Shine – Mémoire 7.8

                How Comes the Constellations Shine is appropriately named. This is gigantic music that shoots for the stars. With an average song length of over six minutes ‘Mémoire’ likes to stretch out. Post-Rock generally goes for this sort of length, and How Comes the Constellations Shine definitely falls into a specific Post-Rock vibe. Large buildups, huge dollops of distortion, and completely vocal-less, How Comes the Constellations Shine manages to create a thing of startling elegance. Upon the first or second listen it may seem dark. After repeated listens it begins to reveal its charms. This is a definite grower of an album. 

                Industrial noises are strewn across the album. These aggressive sounds after much twisting and turning manage to create something rather pretty in their bleakness. ‘School Days’ shows the results of this mangling with a melody resulting out of the tortured noise. Other tracks show an obvious affinity for stranger Post-Rock denizens like ‘Mogwai’. ‘Motherfucker’ is one such track which builds up in an unconventional way akin to Mogwai’s style of aggression. Complete with piano, slow drum, and huge amounts of static, it is one of the harsher pieces on the album. By far the loudest and most exciting piece is ‘Shattered Glass’ which virtually floats on top of so much ringing noise. 

                ‘Mémoire’ is a well-paced beast of an album. Managing to combine both the quiet and loud tendencies of Post-Rock, it shocks the listener for fun. The songs remain quite memorable. Melodies hide between so many layers, oftentimes complimented by the noisy distortion, ready to jump out at any moment. Unpredictable and excessively loud ‘How Comes the Constellations Shine’ have created a truly unique creature.