11 years ago I was a teenager. And much like half of all male teens, I had dreams of being a musician. I had acquired a cheap guitar, I was in a terrible band, but mostly I was listening to a lot of middle-of-the-road metal and rock. With what little money I had, I was buying guitar magazines in the mistaken belief that the tips and tricks contained therein would make me a less mediocre guitarist. Needless to say, I never really became the virtuoso I wanted to be.
But I am still thankful that I read those magazines religiously, as without the November 2003 issue of Total Guitar, I might have never heard an album that altered my perspective on music for good. In that particular issue, amongst the reviews of various dad-rock album reissues and the latest LPs from terrible nu metal outfits, there was a review of Explosions in The Sky’s The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place. Perhaps drawn in by the name, I read the review. What it described caught my attention immediately. Here was a band that eschewed riffs and lyrics in favour of atmosphere. It sounded revolutionary to my 14 year old brain.
Finding the tracks online, I was blown away, it was everything that had been described. The instrumentation was familiar; a couple of guitars, bass and drums, but the sound was completely alien. It was a rock band, but the sound was almost orchestral. Rather than worming it’s way into my head with catchy riffs and anthemic vocals, it enveloped me completely. Opener ‘First Breath After Coma’ still gives me the chills, and writes a story in sound in a way that is truly admirable.
The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place retains a special place in my soul to this day, and was undoubtedly instrumental (no pun intended) in shaping my musical tastes. That chance reading of a review of a band I had never heard of opened me up to a constellation of artists and sounds that still have a central place in my musical universe today.