Singles in the post-rock world are a rarity. Regardless of the fact that they’ll never make a huge dent on the meaningless singles chart, the length of a majority of post-rock songs turns a two track single into an EP, a five track EP into an album, a ten track album into…well, you get the point. The aim of These Monsters releasing this single is merely to keep the buzz alive from their brilliant self-titled EP which exploded onto the post-rock scene, particularly in the UK, earlier in 2006. It’s just a taste of what’s to come from the next release by this Leeds based five-piece, and, like a fat kid working in McDonalds, I’m salivating with expectation.
The two tracks on this single combine for a total length of eleven minutes, and opener "To Swing Back and Forth With A Steady Uninterrupted Rhythm" begins at a frantic pace. A chugging riff and pounding drum beat not far from the influence of Pelican and Disappearer leads into what makes These Monsters so unique: the saxophone. The instrument adds some tangible melody and difference to the music -- something which so many post-rock outfits seem to lack these. As the track winds down the saxophone intervenes with a chiming guitar line, almost acting like the vocal part of the song, and it works so well you’d be excused for thinking These Monsters weren’t a new band at all. Before the track becomes lounge-jazz and disappears into a sea of goatee beards and bongos, the heavy riffs and almost hypnotic drum beats return, and the track lurches towards it’s crashing finale.
The b-side, if you will, ‘Mort Pour Rien’ (it means ‘Dead For Nothing’, and I didn’t even need a translation website to work that out, my French teacher would be so proud.) is almost a short history of every other track These Monsters have committed to record. Starting at African Tribal drumming (I told you this band was unique) and moving from gentle post-rock to metallic infused jazz hysteria, the song delicately ends in droning ambience. ‘Mort Pour Rien’ is a superb aural journey. All this inside five minutes too…you definitely won’t get bored.
The only really criticism, is that with only two tracks on offer from To Swing Back and Forth…you’re left frustrated that this is not a whole EP or album to sink your teeth into. However, with These Monsters now signed to small Leeds based Children No More Records, and touring around the UK more frequently, it won’t be long the next offering is on the table, and if this single and the self-titled EP are anything to go by, that will be a momentous day in the world of post-rock.
-James Ould