Post-rock bands follow such similar artistic paths that the outcomes have become almost funny. Windsor for the Derby doesn't escape this formula. They started in the 1990s as a pure post-rock outfit with heady krautrock leanings. Over the course of Windsor's discography, as post-rock groups are wont to do, they've whiddled down their palette. The irony comes in regard to the audience. Post-rock purists tend to detest the emasculation of "their music" for conventional melodies but new audiences can't quite get their heads wrapped around bands like Windsor for the Derby. Their ceaseless waffling between genres is baffling.Its certainly a tough conundrum for the veteran group to shake. Windsor recently received a small amount of notice for their blip on the movie soundtrack scene with their 2004 song 'The Melody of a Fallen Tree' appearing in Sofia Coppola's Marie-Antoinette. The light nylon guitar strums and the rise and fall of an organ motif buttresses that song's pop lullaby lyrics. Nothing is quite as frolicsome on How We Lost but Dan Kurtz's lyrical urgency remains - if only heard through a murky shoegaze haze on too many tracks.Surprisingly, singing and lyrics haven't been a stranger to Windsor's music but you wouldn't guess that was the case on previous outings. It was cloaked in their aural theatrics before. Now everything is precise and clear on opening track 'Let Go.' The telephone dial-like tone in the beginning echoes underneath the doubled vocals and little organ flourishes. The melodic guitar line carries the mood well into the more raucous 'Maladies.' It is the band's most clear tip towards Psychic TV but one could argue that many song's on this release and others fall into the same category. The wordless chorus is bouncy and harmless and lets up for a distorted close. Another die hard habit that holds over from Windor's early days takes shape as the glacial ambient track 'Robin Robinette.' It feels out of place next to to the more rock-centric and slightly motorik 'Fallen Off The Earth.''Hold On' moves along like a Stereolab song with its whirring tones and percolating percussion. When Matz's introductory falsetto vocals drop into lower registers it sounds a tad shameful though. 'Forgotten' sees one of Windor's frontmen trying the singer-songwriter mold on for size. The quick shifts in genre keep things interesting for not much longer though as the dead legged second half falls on your ears. With this being Windor's eighth LP, the band's revolving door lineup has seemed to take its toll on the Austin, TX collective. Jason McNeely and Dan Matz try their best but 'What We Want,' 'Good Things' and 'Spirit Fade' are dismally murky affairs. 'Good Things' seems to be the worst offender with its plodding cadence and spectral vocals. How We Lost certainly contains some merits but its many detractors keep it from being anything but another step wiggle registered on the same ladder. Yet another victim of the post-rock curse. Sigh. 64%[Download Windsor for the Derby - How We Lost]Links Windsor for the Derby [myspace] [official site] [label]