Album Reviews

A Pyramid For The Living | Del Rey

By Dan ⋅ June 19, 2008 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

I have a semi-daily ritual of laying down on my couch, popping in my headphones, and cranking some good music. Some people like to come home from a long day of work and zone out to some TV or maybe grab a cold-one. I like to just lay down, close my eyes, and relax to music. Del Rey, another great instrumental rock band from Chicago, is one of those bands that’s perfect for said scenario. It’s very chill, yet busy, instrumental rock. You might find them a little abstract if you’re still a big radio listener, but they’re very structured. That’s because their drummer is phenomenal… and so is the sound engineer that recorded/mixed the drums, at least on A Pyramid For The Living (2006). You can’t help but feel you’re right in front of the drum set when engulfing yourself with this album.

I was seriously afraid I might get sick of this album. I must have listened to it at least five times a day for a solid two weeks when I first got it. Of course, I never did. I’d probably still listen to this album just as much if I hadn’t come across so many more bands over the past six months. So what is it that’s so great about this album? Superb composition, engaging dynamics, and mesmerizing percussion. There are only five tracks on this album, but each is unique and no less than 8 minutes. The album totals at about fifty minutes with only two of the tracks being less than 10 minutes. Even though they’re entirely instrumental, the songs are melodic and sporadic enough to keep your attention. If you’re as picky as I am about percussion, you’d probably be entertained by just the drums alone.

If I had to stylistically compare Del Rey to other bands because you haven’t heard them before and for some reason didn’t play the audio clip that is conveniently located at the top of the page… I’d say somewhere between Russian Circles and God Is An Astronaut, and yet still completely unique from the two. I’m sure there are better bands to use for comparison, but I’ve yet to hear them. Let me know if you’ve heard some bands similar to these guys.  It was hard to choose good clips for Del Rey since their songs are so long; a 30-second clip simply does not give a solid representation. So, I strongly encourage you check out their site to hear some tracks in entirety. The clip at the top of this post includes Lamplighter and Stemrick.

Tags: instrumental, rock