Release Date: July 4th, 2006

Website: The Ascent of Everest
Music: Myspace
Label: Angel or Airbag Collective
Buy Link: Click Here

Tracklisting
1. Alas! Alas! The Breath of Life!
2. As the City Burned, We Trembled For We Saw the Makings of Its Undoings in Our Own Hearts
3. Molotov
4. A Threnody (For the Victims of November Second)
5. If I Could Move Mountains
            1. Magesty and Awe
            2. Collapse into Understanding
            3.
Gathered Hearts Rise and Sing at the First Breath of Dawn

Nashville, Tennessee calls itself the “Music City” of the United
States, but that reference is inevitably lost on anyone who can’t
remember anything before nu-metal, boy band pop, and grunge. Even those
recalling sounds of 80s hair metal and new wave can’t conjure up why
exactly Nashville is such an “important” city. Forget all of that. In
the twenty-first century bands everywhere strive to reinvent the wheel
in an attempt to reinvigorate the modern rock world, and although
country is still alive and thriving, many of us have long since turned
a blind eye in order to witness the creation of something a bit more
intangible and personally fulfilling. At one point in time someone
dared to label this movement, and the term “post-rock” first invaded
the ears of unsuspecting listeners. Many refused a limitation upon the
potentials of such a “movement,” or that a movement was even in motion
at all, and still others sought to mold it into its own bizarre
creation. But it was too late, for the seeds had already been planted…

A decade or so later this movement is in full swing in the underground
world. Call it what you will — post-rock, instrumental rock,
experimental rock — there’s no denying that something
has bitten the young musicians of the world and have inspired them to
reach out beyond the compositions of old and stretch the boundaries of
contemporary music in ways which almost makes the need for genre labels
obsolete. In this world, Nashville is not the music capitol, which is
likely bestowed upon Montreal, Canada. In fact, it’s barely even on the
map, tangential only because Hammock and Emery Reel reside at Franklin and Murfreesboro respectively, a short distance from Nashville. The Ascent of Everest aims to change all of that.

How Lonely Sits the City is the debut album from this young band, who came together only a year ago in its devotion to its craft. The Ascent of Everest
suffered not one, but two hard drive malfunctions which basically led
them to re-sculpt the album from scratch. The frustration can surely be
felt throughout the course of the album, where the band attempts to
hammer every nail into position and deliver a perfect, awe-inspiring
performance. The resulting work of art hits the spectrum near bands
such as Explosions in the Sky, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, A Silver Mount Zion, and Yndi Halda. Presentation is a key component to the work of The Ascent of Everest,
and it readily switches forms from guitar driven segments to orchestral
upwellings to thick atmospheric drone and ambiance. The segues are
often huge and greatly overlapping, which results in some extremely
cinematic or cathartic passages. And although the band has only been
playing together for a year, the cohesion present between the different
members is so great it�s difficult to believe that they haven�t been
playing this gig for years.

The Ascent of Everest starts off the album by showing its Explosions in the Sky
influence with “Alas! Alas! The Breath of Life!” This melodic ballad
travels around the sonic landscape like a graceful ballerina, spinning
a grandiose tale of epic proportions. The slow buzz of the guitar
slowly works itself into some innocent fluttering, steadily building up
momentum as strings and drums are added to the mix. Things can only
escalate so much before the drums and guitar take over in true
guitar-rock fashion, but also Devin Lamp lends his voice for
some very low-key vocals, which supplement the blissful explosion of
energy. This optimistic energy plateaus and The Ascent of Everest
continue to climb up the mountain. Quick, sharp drum beats anchor a
rising violin and the smooth licks of the guitar. The second climb
proves to be the one leading to the staggering climax. Someone triggers
the reverb and it viciously swarms the sonic landscape in a sweeping
motion while the violin punctures the surface with its high wailing.
The song then winds down, and How Lonely Sits the City is off to a tremendous start.

Perhaps the most interesting song on the album is “A Threnody (For the
Victims of November 2nd)”. Those behind on their vocabulary will do
well to know that a threnody is a song dedicated to the memory of a
deceased person (not to be confused with a “dirge”). Now it’s time for
a bit of history (see, post-rock can be educational!). “Election Day”
in the United States falls between November 2nd and 8th. The portion
of the US population who bothered to vote in the last presidential election
may recall that it took place on November 2nd, where George W. Bush
defeated John Kerry. Throw in some audio commentary from Mario
Cuomo (via 1984�s Democratic Convention) with some references to
John Winthrop�s �A Modell of Christian Charity� (the �city on
a hill speech�), and the song is ripe with political and religious underpinnings.
Let that simmer for five minutes, with a slow, brooding musical foundation
that boils over and spills forth from the brim of justice to cleanse
the world of its plague of political deception. Or, so we hope. The
Ascent of Everest reside within a �red state,� but they aren�t afraid
to let their voice be heard, and that is something that we can�t afford
to ignore anymore.

�If I Could Move Mountains� ends the five track album with the band
in its most ASMZ inspired haze, complete with a composition broken
into three movements. Lamp again lends his voice for an acoustically
led chant that builds into the most beautiful epiphany on the album,
known as �Majesty and Awe�. Afterwards the band recedes back into sparse
instrumentation (�Collapse into Understanding�) and very hesitantly
rebuilds momentum to conclude with another beautiful finale (�Gathered
Hearts Rise and Sing at the First Breath of Dawn�). This time the guitar
takes the lead, creating a wave of reverb that the violin rides so effortlessly
into the sunset. It�s great to see a band finish off a superb debut
with such an appropriately moving last track and really cement their
place in the stateside instrumental scene.

The Ascent of Everest set its sight on a crowd pleasing debut
album, and with a seemingly endless amount of hard work and dedication
it has pulled it off. I can�t say the album is flawless, for there is
definitely some room for improvement in the The Descent
of Everest, but the band makes a very strong debut effort and shows
itself to be tackling some very complicated compositions and utilizing
some very sophisticated arrangements. Although the band�s influences
are no mystery, it does do a good job of varying between its influences
instead of relying too heavily on any single source of inspiration and
coming off as a clone. That in combination with a little bit of its
own magic makes How Lonely Sits the City quite a pleasant listen
for the ears. Undoubtedly this is one of the better instrumental releases
from the U.S. in 2006, if not the world at large.

~Jordan Volz