Album Review: Pijn – From Low Beams Of Hope (Floodlit Recordings)

Post-rock collective Pijn return with their brand-new album, ‘From Low Beams Of Hope’. To be released on June 28th, 2024, via Floodlit Recordings.

Taking their avant-garde sound to an even greater level, Pijn showcase their mastery of melancholic, thought-provoking, and powerful music across four expansive and complex tracks. Each, as captivating and immersive as the other, and all electing a myriad of feelings.

From the subtle melody that introduces Our Endless Hours, alongside spoken-word poetry that speaks to the soul, and how that develops over several minutes, Pijn have the attention firmly gripped. After several minutes of emotionally charged melody, the track shifts as the might of their instrumental power is unleashed and we get a more substantially ‘heavy’ turn. Although, if you think that means it isn’t filled with avant-garde wonder and oozing affection, you’d be might wrong. The last few minutes will touch the soul.

Pijn are one of the most expressive bands in the world, and they do this with a minimalist perspective. Continuing to approach things from a melancholic standpoint, but making the overall experience, a miserable one. It’s all about the peaks and valleys of a track like Carved Expanse. Tinged with moving contemplation, but also bold enough to allow time to breathe and enjoy the mind-expanding makeup of their more robust twists and turns. That it ends in near-silence, with very soft melody-laced ambience playing, is the kind of move only Pijn could pull off.

Many bands would be satisfied to put out one track as grand as what Pijn have delivered with the first two on this album. Yet, there is no drop off in quality, and with On the Far Side of Morning, things only get more enthralling. Especially as it features radical use of a violin, a prominent feature throughout and masterfully controlled by Claire Northey, amongst other elements. It also finds Pijn at their heaviest sounding, and while the structure collapses in a fascinating way, come the last few minutes it just allows Pijn to rebuild in sumptuous style.

The final track on the album is A Thousand Tired Lives, and without wanting to sound like a broken record, it must be stated again, that this is a dazzling finale. Arguably Pijn at their most experimental, and definitely Pijn at their most patient. Taking their time to build the ambience, allowing soothing waves of melody to wash over the mind, before upping the tempo and showcasing a more energised rhythm. The tones vibrate through the mind, body, and soul until it slowly, and effectively dissipates into nothing.

Pijn. A band like no other, and a band who fully embody what it means to create avant-garde music. From Low Beams Of Hope is going to go down in history as their magnum opus.

Pijn – From Low Beams Of Hope Track Listing:

1. Our Endless Hours
2. Carved Expanse
3. On The Far Side Of Morning
4. A Thousand Tired Lives

Links

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