• Artist: Explosions In The Sky
• Album: All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone
• Label: Temporary Residence
• Release: 2007
• Links: Official Site

All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone is the fourth full length from Explosions In The Sky. This long-awaited release follows 2003’s The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place. On record, the Austin quartet has had a hard time matching the fierce atmosphere of their live performances (they really do turn everything up a notch live), but I thought that they hit their stride with The Earth. On All Of A Sudden, Explosions sounds like a band who want to re-invent themsleves, but are only willing to take baby steps. The album is not without its thrilling moments, but it has become clear that the group’s dramatic formula is beginning to unravel.

Opening track “The Birth And Death Of The Day” is arguably the closest Explosions have come to matching their live show. However, “The Only Moment We Were Alone” from The Earth comes just as close. “The Birth And Death Of Day” is announced by the loudest guitar sound that I have heard this band attempt to pull off on record. As a band who are notorious for huge build-ups, this song contains one of their finest. This is followed by “Welcome, Ghosts,” a song that is highly suspect. Right down to the twinkly guitars, it could have easily been a b-side from The Earth. When a band waits over three years to put out a new full length, you’d like to see them try a little harder than this.

“It’s Natural To Be Afraid,” a 13+ minute epic, rebounds nicely from “Welcome, Ghosts.” “What Do You Go Home To?” and closer “So Long, Lonesome” are two interesting cases. They implement the piano in a way that is much more successful than what EITS tried to do on The Rescue, a limited EP that was released in 2005. These two songs are nice, the latter track especially, but are very brief. Nice is a good way to describe this record. I wasn’t expecting Explosions to re-invent the wheel completely, but I’m beginning to side with the camp that believes that this band has little territory left to explore. With that said, I’m still looking forward to their upcoming tour. I came into this album hoping to be surprised and I leave it feeling like it is their least exciting work to date.

(3/10/07)

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