While most post-rock is preoccupied with unswerving stoicism, Arizona's Lymbyc Systym take a chance on the opposite, with click-and-drag dramatics that are blindingly colorful, lively, and optimistic. But the sibling-duo's Mush Records debut, Love Your Abuser, strays far from the dueling guitar ballets and icy-cold aesthetics of genre poster boys like Explosions in the Sky, taking care to approximate Kieran Hebden's laptop magic and the Icelandic charm of Mum without borrowing too liberally. So while most post-rock bands are busy soundtracking gridiron battles and conjuring images of the apocalypse, Lymbyc Systym paint pictures of birth and growth, making Love Your Abuser a welcomed respite from the genre's characteristic severity. - Earplug |