Longplay 2

They Say...

Review by Ned Raggett, All Music Guide

Pacific UV are a band that, having sought to embrace a form rather than advance it noticeably, at least at this stage of their career, do their best to make that form proud. Said form is in essence the kind of self-consciously epic, often instrumental rock & roll played by bands like Mogwai, Godspeed You Black Emperor! (at least in its early days), and Explosions in the Sky, so while Longplay, Vol. 2 is anything but groundbreaking, it does at least aim for the kind of impact that can push buttons for those favoring said style while exploring some variations along the way. So a song like "Alarmist," with its small drones, piano chords, and eventual heart-swelling guitar part just won't surprise anyone -- perhaps least of all the band -- but there's a tender, calmer feeling to it that steers clear of the total headcrushing those other bands can aim for. Perhaps one of the neatest tricks the band can do is how they almost make some of the expected moves seem like fresh surprises -- thus, the big feedback blowout section at the end of "Something Told Us" almost comes out of nowhere, since the calm piano/guitar arrangement establishes the mood so clearly otherwise. One of the band's other secret weapons is a small but obvious variation -- a favoring of vocals, at least often enough through the album but hardly on every track. If "Need" is a polite enough variation on psych-rock jams, the calm and whispered singing provides even more of a gentle twist, while "Waiting" is one of the better full songs-as-such, just, on the album as a whole.