Album Review: Hammock - The Second Coming Was A Moonrise
Reviewed by Oli Gonzalez
Born in Nashville, a traditional hot bed for country music, Marc Byrd and Andrew Thompson observed the masses and ventured in a different direction in and around 2005. Then, the project Hammock was born, a deep dive into a more experimental side of music. Early releases such as “Chasing After Shadows…Living With Shadows” explored ambient post rock like compositions that featured rather minimalistic ambient melodies that would often progress to huge atmospheric bursts with densely layered textures. This record is a little personal to me, seeing as though this featured heavily in my rotation whilst I was at university (in what feels like a life time ago!). Now two decades since their inception, Hammock present their most ambitious effort to date; “The Second Coming Was A Moonrise”.
Spoiler alert; this is epic! As close to post-rock perfection as you get, ranking up there with the likes of Explosions In The Sky, God Is An Astronaut, and Mogwai as true heavyweights and monarchs of the genre! This review could be painfully long, so instead let’s just go over the highlights of many MANY highlights! Starting with ‘Unsettling Sun’
Now this touched a part of my soul that hasn't been touched for a long time! This is simply beautiful! Gentle, caressing, yet impactful, the dreamlike nature of this composition can heal aching bodies. This is achieved through sheer mastery of the guitar pedals, with the reverberations and tremolo given all the room they need to shimmer elegantly and massage your very soul, in a very clear less is more approach. Though Hammock can certainly up the ante and leave you enamoured with the huge atmospheric bursts that are also prominent in this song!
Then you get another dose of musical medicine in the shape of 'Sadness'. Perhaps named paradoxically given the huge boost of dopamine that will flood your synapses when you first hear it! In particular with the simple yet simply gorgeous shoegazey guitars! Byrd and Thompson described the work on this album as a reflection of ‘their musical bonds becoming ever stronger’, and this song is a perfect showcase for this.
The lead single of the album, 'The Second Coming Was A Moonrise' builds upon these foundations and musical chemistry, with the dynamics shifting from gentle and caressing to densely layered and thoroughly euphoric! The sheer gravity of the song’s crescendo really is something else!
For centuries, the violin has been the centrepiece for some of the most evocative and emotional compositions in history. Here, Hammock lean into the power of this instrument during ‘Everything You Love Is Buried In The Ground’ to tug violently on your own heartstrings, one that could be a full on tear jerker if you allow it to be! 'Deconstructing' offers some temporary respite, in a short sharp burst. The vocals are haunting, ethereal, almost like Bon Iver, though seldom used throughout the album. With the slow build to 'All The Pain You Can't Explain' you feel that it's either going to let you unwind and decompress, ready to go back to the real world, or this will be the final high and last huge crescendo for the album. It takes a while, but the last avalanche of sound comes in the latter stages of the song...and it's beautiful! This speaks to Hammock's unpredictable song writing nature and taking the unconventional path to constantly challenge!
Then. Sadly. It's over. All over. Kind of like when you've seen the last episode of your favourite TV series. You feel lost. "Now what?". Well, either indulge in this masterpiece again, go through Hammock's discography. Or just stare longingly into the abyss and contemplate your existence.
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