The Consumption

From the little reading I’ve done on Untied States online, the Atlanta band’s sound is something of a musical Rorschach test. Reviews have cited prog, post-hardcore, screamo, Archers of Loaf, Radiohead, The Jesus Lizard, noise-rock and just about any other genre and band that have “avant” connotations. None of which gives any real sense of what the band actually sounds like.

Which is fair, because Instant Everything, Constant Nothing isn’t the easiest album to make sense of. My own take on the first couple of tracks leaned somewhere closer to goth-prog, thanks to the echo-chamber vocals, intricate minor-key riffs and constantly shifting mini-movements, but having been through the album’s entirety, I think it’s more a kitchen-sink approach. Any musical ideas that fit the songs are openly embraced, with an inclination towards dissonance and melodic tension. That grab-bag approach means not a whole lot sticks, even the second time through. What does linger is a general mood, a sort of virtuosic angst, and a general sense that there’s something here worth exploring.

Sample songs:

Bye Bye Bi-Polar

Delusions are Grander