This collection features songs from the band iliketrains, a group known for politically and historically pointed lyrics in songs such as “Spencer Perceval,” “Death of an Idealist,” and “Remnants of an Army.”
Review
Sometimes the album's name is a dead giveaway for the sound within, and
it's certainly true in case of Elegies to Lessons Learnt, which plays like a
soundtrack for an intense brooding session. The record is made of ponderously
slow rhythms and sparse guitar lines so hypnotic that their gloomy mood is
almost hard to notice. The textures swirling in the background multiply and
coalesce into the occasional wall of sound, bolstered by pianos, choruses, and
strings, but getting there takes patience; meanwhile, the deep and
well-articulated but emotionless vocals hover above the fuss, reciting obscure
phrases like “Hold back the cavalry” over and over. It's as if the band
roped in the disembodied soul of Jim Morrison for the record. If this all sounds
like a Post-Rock 101 course as taught by Arab Strap members, well,
there's that, but iLiKETRAiNS are at least good enough to have too many
influences and avoid sounding like anyone in particular. The songs begin with a
Gravenhurst-styled folk-rock drone, plod to psychedelic soundscapes of Isis (not
the “end of the world” ones, but those “post-apocalyptic evening
drizzle” moments), and culminate in several Godspeed You Black Emperor!
spikes. A seamless construction, but not a perfect one: for all the intensity
and elaborate song movements, Elegies to Lessons Learnt is short on tension
release. The album can be quiet, taut, or dramatic, but it always sounds as if
the band is repressing the hysteria, trying to hide it under epic melancholy but
not getting away with it. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it limits the
record's use: while much post-rock stuff is good for many kinds of dreaming,
Elegies to Lessons Learnt requires the listener to be in a specific mood – a
grim and, indeed, brooding one – to make an emotional connection. For an
evening of existential musings, this is a good fit, but playing Elegies in a
lighter mood or on a sunny day is impossible and, more importantly,
pointless. Alexey Eremenko – Allmusic.com