Earnest and tightly-wound guitar that weaves between lighthearted post-rock and nuanced prog-grunge, The North Wind‘s guitar work on Mirror Lake is showcased like a snake winding across wet rock with it’s tongue flickering, no tail in sight. These songs never fall into the self-indulgent swells of delay-drenched drama that characterize their contemporaries; the pedal board is reigned in, and these songs move forward to a melodic closure that is equally rewarding and provocative. The atmospheric calm gives way to calamities of distorted chord progressions layered with shattered crystals of clear-to -the bottom counter melodies. The North Wind‘s rhythms keep the purposefully-meandering chords in a tight framework, and threaten to take the songs to ever-greater heights. Simultaneously blissful and workman-like in its guitar craft, this EP rewards multiple listens and attention to its delicate movement and syrup-thick moments like the impressive closing track "She Said." – Stephen Shoup
October 25th at The Know with 1939 Ensemble