Album Review: The World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die - 'Formlessness'

26 January 2013 | 11:00 am | Staff Writer
Originally Appeared In

The World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die has your attention from the title and manages to hold it throughout.

Sorting bands and the music they make into genres is something we are all guilty of, and most of the time it’s pretty difficult to avoid the habit. The Worlds Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die – abbreviated to ‘The World Is A Beautiful Place’ hereafter - is the kind of band that could fit into a never ending list of genres, subgenres and ‘post’ genres. But if you put aside all the talk about new age emo, post punk influences and synth effects, the band’s debut offering, 'Formlessness' holds its own as a hypnotic four-track exemplar of the originality of newbies, The World Is A Beautiful Place

'Formlessness' is as sporadic and unpredictable as it is thrilling. The first track, ‘Victim Kin Seek Suit’ begins with low-key instrumental mixes counterbalanced by soft melodic vocals before jumping midway into energetic verses, fuelled by punchy guitar riffs and gruff distorted vocals. The rhythm of songs like ‘Walnut Street is Dead’ seems to change so suddenly that most of the time you’re not entirely sure what to expect – a feeling that gives the band’s sound an experimental edge and keeps the listener on the ball.

If you want to an idea of what The World Is A Beautiful Place exemplifies have a listen to ‘Gordon Paul.’ Besides being an excellent example of the band’s lyrical capabilities, with lines like “we are all carpeted, we are all painted” the song manages to incorporate a myriad of various instruments, including a cello and a trumpet, to achieve a mature but erratic sound. Indeed, it is a sound almost incomparable to that of any other band and it wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that The World Is A Beautiful Place makes any effort to categorise them into genres, entirely redundant. Finally, at just under six minutes, 'Eyjafjallajokull Dance' brings Formlessness to an epic conclusion.

In a music market where trends come in waves and bands are grouped constantly into genres, here is a band that exists outside of these restrictions purely to make the music they want to make. Ordinarily, this could be a risky task, but Formlessness proves that once in a while it can result in a record oozing with delightful impulsiveness and character.

1. Victim Kin Seek Suit

2. Gordon Paul

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3. Walnut Street Is Dead

4. Eyjafjallajokull Dance