Hailing from Vermont, Carrigan plays ambient post-rock, but more structured and upbeat than you would think. Although the group is a duo now, they had a couple transient members formerly from Drowningman and The Cancer Conspiracy during 2003. The Drowningman connection intrigued me; an old heavy gem that I hadn't heard anyone mention in way too long. The duo did not have vocals on their first release, but with Young Men Never Die, they amp up the instrumentals a bit as well as bring Zack Martin's voice forward more than before.
Young Men Never Die opens with "We Give No Quarter," a slow, ambient sounding track with a floating guitar and minimum percussion. Right off the bat, I am reminded of OK Computer, with the melodies and wavering vocals being most prominent. The keyboard-esque sound effects get louder towards the end of the track, making it seem even more abstract. "Valladoid" follows a similar pattern; the electronics kick in a bit more, but the arrangement just seems inauthentic to me. And I still can't seem to get past vocalist Zack Martin's similarity to Thom Yorke. This vocal pattern fits with the lyrics; their metaphoric imagery gets a point across, but the words don't flow quite like you'd want them to.
There are a few tracks that made their own rules and turned out better than the rest, like "Theodore" and "Moving Bones." But for the most part, I either hear Radiohead or a very minimal electronica group. Towards the end of the album, Carrigan's attempt at being post-rock ends up sounding more like mid-90's radio rock. I hear less experimentation and more Stone Temple Pilots. The cover art also looks suspiciously like Mogwai's Come On Die Young.
The slow nature of most of these songs combined with the unnecessary amount of silence and minimal instrumentation throughout kind of bugs me. I understand that some groups use silence to create a certain effect, but simplicity does not always equate to apt musical abilities. In this case, I'm left a little bored, and I'll accept the responsibility for being impatient.
I'm not sure this style sits well with me. Maybe I'm missing something crucial in Carrigan's spacey full-length. It's not unpleasant, just not intriguing enough to listen to over and over. I can imagine if someone were really into the multiple post's of post-rock, or loved Carrigan's ex-member metalcore counterparts, then they could get a little something more out of this than I did.
