It’s safe to bet that the members of Ciènega and A Shelter in the Desert know each other, given the fact that both hail from metropolitan Mexico, both play post-rock and both released albums within 12 days of the other. They might be tour partners or drinking buddies, or conversely, maybe even bitter rivals engaging in post-rock gunfights in the middle of crowded streets as crowds pour from neighboring saloons. Neither seems angry or morose, so we’re going for the former.
Congratulations to A Shelter In the Desert on being picked up by Oxide Tones – perhaps the label should pick up this new 8-piece as well, who is just as good if not better (see, I started a rivalry!) due to the expanded instrumentation. One really can’t go wrong by adding melodic strings to post-rock – it worked for Yndi Halda, and it pays dividends here as well. The difference between these two groups is that Ciènega already has twice as many songs as Yndi Halda, and keeps the proceedings punchy instead of stretching everything out. This means that five-minute tracks are interspersed with longer offerings, keeping the pace propulsive. One of these, “Sandbox”, is catchy enough to be the first single – it’s the album’s first “full-on” track, following a meticulously developed opener that holds back the strings for the final minute. Once the violin is in play, we want to hear even more of it, and thankfully, over the course of the next hour, we do. No offense to all the other instruments and musicians, but this is Ciènega’s trump card, and they are not afraid to use it.
The songs grow longer as the album progresses, allowing time to showcase other instruments – piano, glockenspiel, guitar. These quieter segments demonstrate a love for focused composition. Viva Bocashi doesn’t as much rock as it does roll, although occasionally it does both (“Moebius”). The band is much less interested in blowing people away with sound as it is with drawing them in with intricacy. The playing seems relaxed rather than rushed, meditative rather than urgent. This makes Ciènega the rare post-rock band that one might be happy to hear while sitting in a concert hall as well as while standing in a stadium. There’s no telling which way the band’s career will go, but flexibility already gives it an edge, and we already know we want to hear more. (Richard Allen)
a closer listen 