65daysofstatic, the instrumentals-only post-rock experimental band from Sheffield, have suffered from the obsessive need to brand every supposed sub-genre of music when, in their case, they are much more than a math rock or glitch band. They are instead just courageous and adventurous, searching for new ways to put sounds together. Their strength and originality lies in the fact they escape categorisation and, as the good artists they are, re-invent themselves at every turn.
With their latest album, the band have come a long way from their first outing The Fall of Math (2004), which rather self-consciously, but very ably, deconstructed guitar and synth rock. There is a lot written about just how they do things technically, and they buy into what is in many ways a smokescreen of misleadingly intellectual referencing of Walter Benjamin, or the idea of "decomposition" rather than traditional composition, a kind of reverse and perverse approach to creating music. But rather like the 20th-century composer Xenakis, who spent much time talking about the arcane art of stochastics and the use of mathematics in writing scores, 65daysofstatic are first and foremost a band that makes highly emotional music, sound landscapes that hit you in the gut rather than just titillate the mind.
Replicr, 2019 is as surprising at every moment as anything else they have done, with drones, beats, swathes of atmospheric sound, and a delightful range of textures. There is repetition as well as high drama. Interspersed with short transition pieces, the album never settles down. Hard-edged percussion in the foreground is contrasted with synthesised colouring, treated to give the widest possible perspective. This is music that avoids the narrative tropes and climax-seeking of most guitar bands. And yet, in the final track “Trackerplatz”, there is a delicious moment of resolution, almost anthemic in feel.
