I think it’s safe to say that people build relationships with music. Whether consciously or unconsciously, those sounds and vibrations sneak under our skin and play with our emotions on a number of levels, eventually becoming companions. And as often with friends, some bands or albums are better company than others depending on the day or your specific mood. Discussing music with most people will reveal their belief that instrumental post-rock music is most like that depressing acquaintance who never cracks a smile or laughs and whose words are often too big for your ears. In a musical sense, songs best preserved for lonely, rainy nights or suicide attempts for the intellectual.We vs. Death and their newest release We Too Are Concerned is a knife to the gut of the above stereotype. With a tremendously fluid sound swimming across the atmosphere from the Netherlands, this seven-piece turns instrumental rock on its head and spits out some effervescing vibes that will play tilt-o-wheel with your nervous system and may actually make you beam.

This it not to say the melancholy that runs rampant in the blood of bands like Sickoakes and Gregor Samsa is altogether absent on this release; it’s profoundly incorporated into a larger sound that includes a collection of contrasting shades and is capable of provoking more than heartsick memories and tears of love lost. Energetic yet tenderhearted, it evokes the emotional complexities of Ronald McDonald giving away wishes to children born without legs. A refined, full sound that bellows with open arms Рin a word: evolved.

The disc offers instant surprises as unexpected brass veers into the opening track, coasting side by side with benevolent strings and cultivated percussion. The music avoids the traditional quiet-quiet-loud build-up and opts instead for an unflustered, steady exploration of layered rhythm that broods bit by bit, but never reaches that one, massive climactic point that our ears know as bands like Mono or Mogwai. Rather, the tracks here indulge in mini-bursts led by a cascading trombone, an antidote to the anesthetizing of most instrumental pieces, which may even push you to the point of whistling along – a mortal sin, last time I checked, in the world of post-rock.

Multiple listens reveal further revelations hidden deep within the soil of sound, not unlike the cavernous echoes of Magyar Posse’s most recent effort. “Pictures from Stanford” is a supreme example, as impressive, tight layers will snag your attention, but the subtle beauty supporting the main attraction of percussion and brass may go unnoticed to the casual listener. In many ways, this is where the album comes to fruition. Like getting to know another individual, it takes time to understand its mannerisms and behavior, but when given that opportunity, this disc will become like the friend that always listens, but never talks.

These distinctive tracks are something to experience, and while they may not shake the Earth below your feet with a beckoning tremolo, they thrive as the perfect cohort to prototypical days and moods: mid-summer tree climbing, Honda-hatchback stargazing, and the perfect companion to experience the collapse of the sun behind the horizon. We Are Too Concerned offers up an entire environment of sounds, but begs to leave you with an overwhelming feeling of energy and liberation – like a ghost story with a happy ending.

–Jonathan Brooks