Last year, epic post-rockers Tarnetel released a gentle record, We Move Through Weather. It was a collection of gorgeous instrumentals that were sometimes heavy, sometimes soft and always beautiful. They had several tracks left over from those sessions, but instead of leaving them in the vaults, they decided to release them as Paper White and Big Black Square. As concepts go, the band wishes for you to consider these two records as 'bookends' to We Move Through Weather, with Paper White being the gentle beginning and Big Black Square the grand finale.
Such a concept might be a bit haughty, but it's easy to see their reasoning. Paper White consists of four 'brief' songs (for Tarentel, that is); while they're pretty, they're not quite as delicate and gentle as their previous album--in fact, the songs have a bit of a generic feel to them--but they're certainly relaxing. Opening number "Isalais Straight" is a raw space-rock number that takes off quickly on a fast pace (for Tarentel, that is), quickly turning into "Open Letter to Hummingbirds," which is a bit more gentle than the first track. Unfortunately, "Golden State Overnight" and "Paper White" really don't sound that different from the other two tracks; pretty, yes, but a bit repetitive. The four songs have a feel that's akin to a jam session; the songs have a very immediate feel, but they also lack polish.
Big Black Square, the conceptual finale, is quite different. It's one long, 43-minute song. It starts off slow--very, very slow, with a gentle drone and a sample of falling rain playing in the background. It quickly builds up and goes higher and higher and louder; it starts off gentle and then gets really, really big and bold and loud and epic and grand and it's very much an album closer sort of song, even though it is album length. With a name that uses the phrase 'big black,' you might be led to believe it would be a harsh, noisy rock onslaught a la Steve Albini, but don't let the reference fool you; this is a far cry from anything he's done.
At first, I was a bit ambivalent about these two records, but I'm not so ambivalent about them now. These two EP's are pretty, and while they might not match up to the gorgeous We Move Through Weather, they do make a beautiful noise that's all their own, and you can't hate 'em for that. Certainly not a bad addition to Tarentel's fine discography.
--Joseph Kyle
Artist Website: http://www.tarentel.com
Label Website: http://www.temporaryresidence.com
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