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"Other Truths"

Do Make Say Think – Other Truths
16 October 2009, 09:00 Written by
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othertruths_coverIn a classroom, in Ontario, in 1995, a Canadian instrumental band practiced, with the words Do Make Say Think pinned to the walls. Presumably intended as some sort of vague philosophical inspiration for a class of Canadian eight-year-olds, this loosely related configuration of four verbs inadvertently became a piece of Canadian post-rock history when in 1999 the band (now called Do Make Say Think, obviously) released an instrumental album entitled Do Make Say Think that was bursting with intelligence and personality.Fourteen years later, Do Make Say Think are also the names of the four tracks on their sixth studio album Other Truths, which, perhaps rather spookily, contains some of the most likable work the band has produced to date. It would appear that these four words posses some sort of mysterious power. A bit like The Numbers from Lost, but with actual meanings, not just made up ones to keep you watching a-secretly-really-rubbish television show.Opener 'Do' immediately sets the tone, re-introducing the sound of Do Make Say Think in slightly itchier pants initially, a fun, impetuous little guitar riff lays the groundwork for one of Do Make Say Think’s new classics, a memorable epic with features that could easily become a very pleasing set of leitmotifs for the live show.The Spearin, Payment and Benchetrit guitar work keeps on producing those familiar phrases out of their lateral, sometimes tangential approach to the fretboard, while the slightly more rounded edges and pointed almost-hooks nudge the shoulders, reminder that the concept still, somehow, has plenty of leg-room. The way wind instruments lovingly intertwine with these self-assured compositions this time around also lends a certain luxurious feel to the sound. This is an album very comfortable in it’s own skin.Other Truths is probably the most instantly likable example of the kind of thinky instrumental head-nodders and eye-glazers that Do Make Say Think have been churning out for a decade, but that’s not to say that it’s the lacks the intensity of it’s predecessors. Far from it in fact, there are tense, off-kilter meanders and goose-bump inflicting plunges a plenty, all sitting on the familiar layers of weird, tilting atmospherics. At times the attitude of this record goes beyond confident and into magnanimously triumphant. Brass soars as second track 'Make' gallops, kinglike, through it’s middle three minutes. 'Say' achieves similar blood-stirring results, repeatedly threatening to lose it’s composure as wind instruments reach for the sky in unison before being reigned back in and gently put to bed in an engrossing cycle.From gleaming and celebratory to forehead-clenchingly anxious and out via sparse and blissful, by the time we get through to 'Think' we’re back in weightless territory, a welcome little nip of nostalgia at the finale.Managing to place itself as a pleasing progression for established fans and an interesting introduction for new listeners Other Truths isn’t quite a tour de fource, but almost good enough to warrant a touch of hyperbole if it means more people will take an interest in this woefully underappreciated band who now have a incredibly strong back-catalogue behind them. Another fantastic forty-three minutes to shut yourself away with. Buy the CD and don’t play it through laptop speakers.RECOMMENDEDDo Make Say Think on Myspace
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