Under Review

Torngat

You Could Be [alien8 recordings]

Review By Joe Pooley

Along with the Arcade Fire, their cousins in instrument-switching pop, Torngat proves that band nerds can make it as indie rockers. Or that, in Quebec, musicianship is alive and well. With their full-length, You Could Be, these three Montreal multi-taskers have fashioned a breezy instrumental album that eschews the more theatrical tendencies of their post-rock coterie. But the lack of posturing refreshes: there’s a purity and organic sounds that shine through with analog synths, Hammond growls and the acoustic horn echoes (and you can be sure that’s a part of their ethos). At times, one is certainly glad that the soundscape is not tainted by vocals. Indeed, You Could Be remedies the depersonalized, often alienating, quality of the instrumental-only albums with rich and engaging arrangements. On the title track, the French horn dances and sings while, later, the seemingly superfluous ambiance of “Mouton Noir” gives way to a crack of body-moving percussion that is primal in its affectivity – pre-language, inarticulable. After all, Torngat makes a safe bet: they don’t want to come off as poetasters.