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Del Rey: These Post-Rockers that Come at You with Heavy Psychedelia

More so even than their past work on albums like 2006’s A Pyramid for the Living and their rudimentary 2001 debut, Speak it Not Aloud (both albums through My Pal God Records), the At a Loss Recordings premiere for doubly-percussed Chicago quintet Del Rey, called Immemorial, is marked by its ambition. An expansive sound that contains elements of post-rock, psychedelia, driven riff-based rhythms, experimental noise and ambient soundscaping spreads out over Immemorial’s seven tracks, beginning with the fervent tom rumble of 11-plus-minute opener “Return of the Son of Fog Rider” and finding just as much force in the subdued delay guitar Americana of the brief “Innumeracy” and the atmospheric ringing tones of “Ouisch” (say it out loud). It is an offering as likely to hypnotize as it is to engage, and for that variety, all the richer a listening experience.

But though Del Rey present multiple components of their total sound in each song, Immemorial can still be understood in a structure of the long tracks being complemented by the short. The aforementioned “Innumeracy” bleeds into the 10:35 “Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars” with an ease and grace that could only be on purpose, and the whispering synth line that concludes “Ouisch” is also that which begins the 9:39 “These Children that Come at You with Knives,” which gives way to the sort-of afterthought that is “Ancestral,” closing the album with nearly two-and-a-half minutes of hopeful guitar runs. It’s worth noting that in “Return of the Son of Fog Rider,” Immemorial gets a beginning that moves right from the start, and there is a kinetic energy through most of the longer tracks. I don’t know if I’d call it “heavy” in a heavy metal sense, but I’ll be damned if Del Rey’s instrumental explorations don’t carry a weight you can feel in each of your senses.

Listeners with different backgrounds are going to hear varying influences, but it’s hard for me to listen to “E Pluribus Unicorn” and not think of the better end of the heavy psych/prog style that’s grown up over the course of the past Isis-inspired half decade or so. That said, multi-instrumentalists Eben English, Chris Cowgill, Damien Burke and Michael Johnson (joined on Immemorial by second drummer Jason Ward, who has also recorded all of their albums) have been performing under the Del Rey moniker since 1997, so their roots obviously run deeper than the likes of Red Sparowes, with whom they may or may not share incidental sonic similarity. Again, Immemorial is an incredibly textured collection of tracks, and if you sit with it long enough, you can hear just about whatever you’re looking for.

And if you’re thinking “Oh god, not another two-drum band everyone knows the Melvins are the best at this so why would anyone even bother?” it only really seems to come up on “Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars.” There may be other times on Immemorial where there is more than one percussion instrument being played, but not once on the album does double-drumming feel like a gimmick Del Rey are perpetrating to up some imaginary hipster appeal. Frankly, the album is a much more satisfying piece of work than something you would say, “Hey, that’s neat,” to. Prog heads will grasp onto the experimental elements, psychedelonauts will want to be dragged along the jamming peyote desert floor “These Children that Come at You with Knives” seems to be built on, and assholes will call it overrated hipster rock. Somewhere between all that, you’re likely to find yourself a rich LP worthy of multiple engagements.

Del Rey’s website

At a Loss Recordings

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