Film School : Hideout

<img src="http://www.qromag.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/filmschoolhideout.jpg" alt=" " />In a squinting, shoegaze drama, relentless rhythms and waterfalls of guitar effects dominate Film School's second album. ...
7.0 Beggars Banquet
2007 

 In a squinting, shoegaze drama, relentless rhythms and waterfalls of guitar effects dominate Film School's second album. The only breaks between the long swaths of rolling post-rock on Hideout are a couple atmospheric interludes, as the majority of it is an intense affair.  Along the way, droning vocals add even more power to a mix that's both very emotional and mechanical.

Throughout Hideout, the Californian five-piece drench themselves in highly effected guitars with sparse rhythms.  In a way similar to the LA smog shrouding the sun, electric guitars spread out to add inherent density to the other instruments.  The album opener, "Dear Me" stirs this effect around jogging drums and the desperate narrative in singer Greg Bertens' vocals.  In a show of strong consistency, this style defines the album.  The at-this-moment irony of "Sick Hipster Nursed By Suicide Girl" is mostly left up to the imagination as throaty vocals push the dark, rushing sound.  In one of the more affable moments, "Go Down Together" adds a smooth, bouncing bass and feathered vocal harmony to the mix.  The three short rest points on Hideout also go along way to stretch out the effectiveness of the album's foundation sound.

The strain bursting from guitars on Hideout is inspired, difficult in its futility, and plenty compelling.  Between the swirling chaos and pointed control, Hideout might sound something like a robot having a nervous breakdown.  And if you've never heard it, you should at some point.

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