Destroy All Dreamers "À Coeur Léger Sommeil Sangiant"

Big.

That's the best word to describe Canada's vast, uninhabited and frigid tundra. It's also the best word to describe À Coeur Léger Sommeil Sangiant, the debut album from Canada's Destroy All Dreamers. This Canadian quartet make epic post-rock that's not unlike Canadian brethern Godspeed You Black Emperor! or A Silver Mt. Zion; that is, their music is loaded full of guitars creating all kinds of dark atmospherics that start off small and grow increasingly dark and loud. Thankfully, they're not playing the imitation game too much; about the only comparison that can be made between them and their more famous countrymen is that they're from Canada.

It's obvious that Destroy All Dreamers has a bit of a sweet-tooth for mid 1980s-era British art rock, the kind that bordered the post-punk, goth and ambient created by bands like The Cure and the esteemed label 4AD. Indeed, at times Destroy All Dreamers sound like the legacy of the Cocteau Twins (especially when they title one of their songs "Swirling Colours Sink") and the much more obscure Dif Juz. Throw in a hint of the gorgeous compositions of Harold Budd, and it's easy to think Destroy All Dreamers have created a sonic time machine. Songs like the title track and the epic "Facultatives Imaginaires, en Robe et en Eclats" are so overwhelmingly gorgeous, you'll wish more bands took this route. If you close your eyes while listening to À Coeur Léger Sommeil Sangiant, you'll quickly find yourself drifitng into a sleepy slumber solace--which, of course, is probably what Destroy All Dreamers intended.

Much like the northern regions of Canada, Destroy All Dreamers is cold and overwhelmingly vast. As a whole, À Coeur Léger Sommeil Sangiant is a breathtaking, near-orgasmic sonic experience; it's heady music for troubled times, and I've yet to hear a record this year that's quite as grand as this. For those of you seeking solace from the heat of the summer or the stresses of the world, there's no better escape from this world than this record. À Coeur Léger Sommeil Sangiant is hands-down one of the best debut albums I've heard in ages.

--Joseph Kyle

Artist Website: http://www.destroyalldreamers.com
Label Website: http://www.wherearemyrecords.net