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MH-072 Is And Of The - Handpainted Glow  With Handpainted Glow, Andrew Bandos' Is And Of The makes great strides just months after his debut full-length, Heads Phased For Dreamless Sleep. Building on the production capabilities that caused All Music to note his "masterful touch with shaping and layering sounds, which is all the more impressive considering he was only 20 at the time of the album’s release," the twenty-eight minute, six-track EP shows growth in musicality, recording, mixing and songcraft that is phenomenal given how quickly it follows on the heels of his debut. "How We Used To Drift" has the beautiful ambience that reminds of the quiet before the storm in the best Explosions In The Sky material. On "The Past Inside The Present" the artist samples his own playing before chopping it over tastefully layered guitars and finally adding vocals processed to the point of turning them into just another instrument in a beautiful track. "Grasshopper" and "Foggy Pennsylvania" continue the impressive run of music that walks the line between post-rock, shoegaze and electronic before "I Drew A Crescent With My Movement Forward" and "Out Door See" completely deconstruct what has come before with lo-fi piano, warm wordless vocals, crying stringed instruments soaked in room reverb, and a fearless willingness to let the songs breathe. Handpainted Glow makes it even more apparent that Is And Of The is laying the groundwork for an impressive career. |
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| Reviews Summary |
| Once in a while you come across a shining jewel among the sea of wannabe-rockstars on the internet. - Life Is Awesome / There is no description that can do this justice. - Aiding & Abetting |
| Reviews | |
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| Is And of The‘s Heads Phased For Dreamless Sleep (review here) was released about half a year ago, and yet Andrew Bandos is ready to offer up a new set of music, this time in the form of an EP (or a short album if you want to get technical, since it’s a few seconds above the album length limit). There are a few similarities to the album in that the mixture of electronic beats and pulses mixed in with folky sounds and samples are still there. The difference here, outside of it being new material, is that there is a bit more structure and songwriting to these pieces. Either that, or because they are new, I’m wanting to hear something distinctly different than what I did the first time. With these new songs, especially “Foggy Pennsylvania”, I can almost imagine someone (no one specific) writing lyrics to these and taking Is And Of The’s music to new places, perhaps those not intended. By the time the EP reaches the dreamy “I Drew A Crescent With My Movement Forward” and “Out Door See”, it goes back to more innocent days when shadows and sounds scared you, and the comfort of someone who loved may or may not become the last thing you see before shutting your eyes. Yes, it is very much like lullabies, and the melodies sound innocent, as if those before you also heard those melodies passed on to them, which were passed on to them. It is the key to a dream state, and one where your inner dialogue knows the true answers to everything you choose to hold back on. Handpainted Glow is about hearing a calling for you to let go. - This Is Books Music |
