There is something strange and indescribable about the music of We Have Band. I feel like I have heard all of these elements, styles of vocals, and tense atmospheric presentation, but I’ve never quite heard them combined in such a manner. Their second release titled Ternion, is a true enigma in synth/electronic and offers a sound that will clearly divide listeners.
It won’t take long to notice the trip hoppy nature of the release and how incredibly infectious there sound is. While some songs take a minute to captivate, others will immediately suck listeners in and keep them moving against their own free will (if needed). As I continue to listen I am starting to remember some of the elements that I am hearing. A bit of Massive Attack type instrumentals (Mezzanine style) give the album a tense and often downright creepy aura (listen to “Rivers of Blood” and tell me I’m wrong).
Combining upbeat with unnerving in electronic bliss, this much better version of Hot Chip apparently knows how use the ebb of contemporary synthesized beats to perfection. A bit of distortion, a chick singer chiming in, and a constant pace change makes Ternion interesting at every juncture. Each song is slightly longer and more catchy than your average pop song ad has so many different elements and sounds that anyone who is even slightly interested at first will be sold by the time the forty-something odd minutes are up.
Mixed brilliantly, the album follows a slow fast slow type of format beginning with the beaty droning “Shift”. Something straight out of a horror movie, this begins the glimpse into the electronic abyss. “After All” and “Where Are Your People” speed up the pace up and begin to sculpt the shape of Ternion. “Visionary” which might be the best track on the album highlights the energy, creativity, and edge that We Have Band are capable of.
I’m not sure where these guys came from, but they are one of the more creative sounds that I have heard in quite awhile. As stated before, I have heard all of these elements before, but not organized and engineered in this particular manner. It’s a shitload of your favorite electronic, trip hop, synth pop, whateverthefuck bands all on the same album. The length of each song is enough to allow getting lost in the music without it being a ten minute epic Explosion in the Sky (no ill will intended, love them) track.
For the sake of mentioning more tracks, “What’s Mine, What’s Yours” is airy, peaceful, intimate, brilliant, “Watertight” is catchy as all hell, “Rivers of Blood” is mentioned earlier and is eerie as hell, and “Pressure On” is the absolute perfect end to the album in its calming beauty. in all honesty, I’m mentioning highlight tracks in order to coax unwilling participants into giving Ternion a listen; the cohesiveness and enigmatic sound of the album will do the rest.
This is a really good album, completely original and (at least for me) straight out of the blue.
