“Shine eternal.“
In hindsight, it’s easy to feel sorry for This Will Destroy You (TWDY). They formed in 2005, when bands such as Sigur Rós, Explosions in the Sky, God is an Astronaut, Mogwai and The Album Leaf were all in their prime. The post-rock scene was peaking… and so inevitably, once TWDY had finally built up a following, the genre was falling out of fashion. Much of the band’s early work was deliberately simple, with quiet, trembling riffs building into epic, noisy finales. This formula was derisively known as “crescendocore”, and TWDY were often dismissed as the poster children for this fad. By the time the band had released the compelling Tunnel Blanket in 2011, they had re-tooled themselves as a drone-doom outfit, sounding less like Explosions in the Sky and more like a reverb-drenched version of Earth. Another Language followed in 2014, and it looked as if This Will Destroy You were growing beyond tired post-rock tropes while maintaining a dedicated fanbase.
Then things went a bit… squiffy. First there were line-up changes, and the band’s last album, 2020’s ambient-drone Vespertine, was ruthlessly mocked because of its origins as the soundtrack to an artsy restaurant. Then fans realised that there were two different bands touring under the name This Will Destroy You. This was eventually officially confirmed, with the added note that no new music would be released under the TWDY moniker. This is not the place for speculation, but it’s clear that something happened in the band. This Will Destroyed Themselves?
you, infinite is centred around TWDY’s longtime guitarist Jeremy Galindo and founding bassist Raymond Brown (who left the band in 2007), supported by the current members of Galindo’s version of TWDY. The personnel list looks like TWDY and the music sounds like TWDY, so it’s very tempting to conclude that, had it not been for the aforementioned something, this album would have been released as a TWDY album.
And you, infinite could very easily be mistaken for a long-lost This Will Destroy You record. There’s the combination of soft guitar riffs and shining guitar drones, the mix of electronic and acoustic percussion, a healthy dose of Rhodes piano and, occasionally, things get fuzzy and noisy, but never raucous. In summary, this album couldn’t have been more post-rock if it tried. This is clearly, and unapologetically, a retro album, which is both you, infinite’s biggest strength and its biggest weakness.
you, infinite is a reminder of how far post-rock has come. In the 2020s, post-rock music is usually woven into a wider tapestry of sound. (Sprain’s 2023 album The Lamb as Effigy is a post-rock-hued modern masterpiece.) I do occasionally go back and listen to mid-00s post-rock, and find it’s still possible to enjoy individual albums in isolation. But you, infinite is like a microcosm for the whole mid-00s scene, which relied on a small number of clichés. “Loop 20”’s waltzing introduction sounds indistinguishable from early Hammock. The snare-heavy percussion and noodling guitars of “Throughlines” and “Currents” are incredibly reminiscent of Explosions in the Sky. The Rhodes piano/guitar/electronic beats combination make large swathes of the album, but especially “Focus on Reflection” and “Understated”, feel like tributes to The Album Leaf. It can’t be a good sign when an album reminds you less of the band members’ earlier works and more of their contemporaries.
And that’s a real shame, because there are some great moments on this album. “Focus on Reflection” is a gentle, captive, expansive opener. “Throughlines” is a wonderful piece that feels like driving along a desert highway at dusk, punching the air in triumph. “Cutter” is five minutes of ambience that wouldn’t have felt out of place on a mid-2010s sci-fi soundtrack.
But then the album hits “Loop 20”. The first half is perfectly likeable (even if it feels like Hammock worship). But the second half feels like TWDY on an especially forgettable autopilot. And this is followed by “The Elder”, which has a promising start: noisy and frenetic, propelled by some energetic drumming. But this gradually fizzles out, sleekly moving from one post-rock trope to the next. There’s nothing wrong with the track, but it lacks inspiration.
And this is how the album continues. “Currents”, “Understated” and “Shine Eternal” are all incredibly competent, but don’t do anything that post-rock bands hadn’t already done to death 15 years ago. (Even worse, the outro to “Understated” feels very similar to the outro we heard 40 minutes earlier on “Throughlines”.) “Dormant”, a thumping, joyful piece, has the template for a worthy album closer, but lacks any distinctive moments. None of this is helped by this album’s runtime. you, infinite is almost twice as long as Young Mountain, yet does nothing to warrant that length.
Having said all that, I’m sure this album will develop a sizable following. The guys in you, infinite are probably putting a very stressful few years behind them. If so, there is logic to a back-to-basics, old-school record. you, infinite convincingly proves that the band can still write great music, and I look forward to future albums that explore new territory. As a “consolidation album”, this is a success. If you’re looking for a post-rock-themed blast from the past and are willing to set aside this album’s baggage, then you, infinite is absolutely for you. Otherwise, you might want to give this album a miss.
6/10
you, infinite‘s self titled debut releases through Pelagic Records on the 28th February and can be pre-ordered here.