Explosions in the Sky - All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone

Explosions in the Sky
All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
Temporary Residence Ltd.
Grade: A

In the years since Explosions in the Sky released their previous record, The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place in 2003, the Austin four-piece have managed to hang on to the title as the best instrumental band on the planet. It could be that their seemingly air of mystery enhanced this enchantment – hardly a peep for a few years, particularly with respect to shows. Regardless of the reason(s) for Explosions absence, they are back with a vengeance on terrifically amazing All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone.

The above isn’t entirely true as Explosions aren’t like the crazy recluse Russian mathematician who solves all those famous problems and never comes of his snow enclosed hut. In 2004, the band provided the soundtrack for Friday Night Lights, the west Texas high school football movie, something on face value may be shocking. Yet, Explosions’ gorgeous soundscapes provide perfect film atmosphere – a notion not lost in that fans MUST own the FNL soundtrack. Plus the band, Christopher Hrasky, Michael James, Munaf Rayani, and Mark T. Smith, originated in Midland TX – more football country than average. The band along with TRL also re-released their debut record How Strange, Innocence in 2005. Still Explosions only made live appearances at the various Austin festivals over the past couple of years.

Explosions’ absence was by design as the band began to worry whether their compositions were coming too easily, too similar, to packaged, and too predictable. Many folks, where I would include myself, wouldn’t mind such new compositions to parallel past magical moments like “Your Hands In Mine.” But the band egged for a sound more challenging and more inspiring. It is not as if All of a Sudden is some shifting in movements and momentum from past spectacles. Instead, Explosions traded in The Earth’s crystal clear, pristine sound for a more ratcheted up, noisy version of its self. With the production help of John Congleton in Minnesota, Explosions replace the uber-clean soothing for a dirty intensity.

All of a Sudden opens on “The Birth and Death of the Day” with several extremely distorted bangs on chords before the rest of the group sweeps in. In classic Explosions’ form the distortion drops off two minutes in to allow a crescendo of cleaner guitars that help bring to a peak of joy. Naturally, the journey continues through mountains and valleys for nearly eight minutes, making “The Birth and Death of the Day” the standout track on the album – as if to suggest you could truly separate the overall experience of a continuous listen. The follower “Welcome, Ghost” is a rather straight forward romp until the slow down midway through. “It’s Natural to be Afraid” serves as the longest song on All of a Sudden – thirteen-and-a-half minutes. With such space, Explosions’ slowly etch out the delightful with high note guitars and cymbal washing coming in half-way to carry you home. With rising and falling guitars, piano twirls around the five-minute “What Do You Go Home To?”, Explosions pick up the pace again as guitars immediately lift you on “Catastrophe and the Cure” and the band pulls out all of its signature moves throughout. All of a Sudden ends on the rather short and quiet “So Long, Lonesome,” which propagates on a soothing piano.

As has been said on this site of the past several years, Explosions in the Sky are one of the best bands going in either vocals or without. And, thus, being devoid of all of their records is tantamount to the breaking the eleventh commandment – thou shalt have all of Explosions’ records. Though purposely less polished than The Earth or the Friday Night Lights soundtrack, All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone both continues and opens new chapters for Explosions in the Sky. Be part of the awakening!