This is TWDY's move away from the stuck-in-the-mud post rock cliches, and into their own distinctive voice. Granted, they did the "post-rock" thing better than almost anyone, but it's great to hear them finally find themselves. Yes, it drones quite a bit. No, the melody isn't the most prominent piece here. But if you wanted to hear what something destroying something slowly sounds like, this is it.
This record is laughably terrible, and that's coming from a big fan of this band's last full-length and EP. Not really sure what they were thinking on this one. There's no movement, no dynamics within or between songs, no instrumental development. All there really is is slow, brooding noise and static. This record, especially on the heels of what I thought was an excellent self-titled LP, is a true disappointment.
This band put out a pretty great EP. ("Young Mountain") a few years ago. Melodic, thoughtfully composed post rock (to use a dated term). The follow up album is slower and sparser, but haunting in it's own way (when it doesn't drag too much). This brings us to the new one. I bought it the day out came out. It's pretty bad. It sounds like a parody of itself. Or as if the band asked a much less talented band to make the new album for them. I listen to a lot of sparse, ambient music, so the fact that these same terms could be used to describe "Tunnel Blanket" is not the problem for me. The problem is that this is watery and uninspired (and has some of the worst drumming I've heard in a while). The way this band is evolving, I predict they'll release one last album that will feature nothing more than a single guitar feeding back quietly in one key for 39 minutes.
Remember that meme a while back where somebody slowed down a Justin Bieber song by 8x and stretched it into this epic half-hour chill-out track? This sounds a lot like that.
