Tarentel
Paper White EP
(Temporary Residence)
This is one of only three EPs that the rejuvinated and apparently very prolific Tarentel will be releasing in the near future (released at the same time as their Big Black Square EP and preceeding yet another to-be-released on Acuarela Discos). Following hot on the heels of their album We Move Through Weather, all three of the EPs in the collection hold a somewhat distinct place in their progression in sound.
The Paper White EP is the only one of the three albums to be recorded before last years full-length, and although they're cut from the same sonic cloth, this short release (four tracks and just under twenty-five minutes) seems like a fairly logical stop-gap between their early work and the more heady exercises of the album that followed-it. "Isalais Straight" opens the release with a weaving intro that blends a throbbing bassline with the pummeling drums of Jim Redd and some shattered guitar textures that build and swirl nicely as the track lumbers onward. The close of the track dissolves into a lovely piano melody and some soft waves of feedback.
The rest of the EP seems to swerve back and forth between work that recalls the older output from the group (the quiet and warm guitar/piano melodic interplay of "Open Letter To Hummingbirds") and ones that fall somewhere in-between. Both of the closing tracks feature prominent drums, but also contain more melodic guitar work rather than the sharper drones that have marked their newer work. Interestingly enough, the group who stunned with their longer tracks (on albums like From Bone To Satellite) on earlier albums seem to slowly be growing into such lengths with their newer sound. On the Paper White EP, they keep things in check a little bit more and come out all the better for it.
Rating: 7
