Appleseed Cast sprouts post-rock sound with Sagarmatha

An Appleseed Cast a day keeps the doctor away.

By Tom Carbone

Published Feb. 16, 2009

Fresh off the heels of the early '90s emo scene, The Appleseed Cast, a duo out of Lawrence, Kan., formed in 1997. Over the years, through nine full-length albums, The Appleseed Cast has been working to find new sounds and a different style of playing music. Heavily rooted in the emo culture, they cited influences such as Sunny Day Real Estate and Mineral. But as the two chugged along the last 10 years with an ever-evolving rotation of band members, they finally found a sound that combines their early emo tastes with today's post-rock scene.

Even though some are nervous about a band finding its "post-rock" side, The Appleseed Cast definitely does it well. A lot of post-rock bands put out boring, instrumental soundscapes that sound like everything else. Although instrumental soundscapes are what make post-rock what it is today, it is absolutely essential a band infuses something a little more personal in order to be unique and worth listening to. Post-rock typically withholds vocals and goes for the straight instrumental approach, but with Sagarmatha, The Appleseed Cast's long-awaited new album, the duo incorporates vocals in a way that a post-rock band hasn't done in a long time.

The first song on the record, "As the Little Things Go," sounds just like an Explosions in the Sky song. Between the buildups and climaxes, The Appleseed Cast doesn't really do anything too abnormal with the first song. The lush orchestrations are moving, but I'm a sucker for post-rock and I find almost all decent soundscapes to be beautiful. The first three tracks are pretty much like this and take up most of the album. But again, these songs aren't bad. They're just not revolutionary.

What makes Sagarmatha great is "The Summer Before," a dream-like tune that combines The Appleseed Cast's delicate and complex instrumentation with its heavily effected vocals. It's almost like they don't want you to hear the lyrics. Despite the sonic qualities this song possesses, it doesn't let loose quite yet.

"Raise the Sails," feels like it has a lot more energy on an initial listen. Even though it is noisier than the other tracks on the album, it still combines intricate noises and layers with a poppy post-rock vibe. Through a bit of ambiance and hushed vocals, the song reaches an eventual climax and really satisfies the listener. "Raise the Sails" is certainly the definitive track on Sagarmatha with its rich quality and elaborate-yet-simple instrumentation.

Throughout the last decade, The Appleseed Cast has had a constant change in band members and its sound. Sagarmatha will definitely show Appleseed Cast fans it has come a long way since its emo material in 1998. Although the traditional elements of post-rock are evident on this release (swirling soundscapes, climaxes), vocals are added to the mix in an interesting way.