By Max Luebbers ’16, Entertainment Editor

Ought has been on my radar since the middle of the summer. The Montreal post-punk quartet has been making music since 2012 but it was only last year that they released their debut album titled More Than Any Other Day. Ought received wide praise from the indie rock community for incorporating a variety of influences into a single cohesive sound. With hints of Joy Division, The Talking Heads and even Pixies, as well as parts of the Montreal post-rock Scene, Ought produced an 8-track album of harsh, piercing, sometimes meandering songs that came together as both a “history” of indie-rock, and a compelling work of its own.

Unfortunately the few problems that plagued More Than Any Other Day remain in Sun Coming Down. The first album suffered from surprisingly poor mixing and the problem persists in their second studio effort. Guitar, vocal, and bass tracks blend together too well, and without audio panning each song lacks depth. The result is less of a cooperation between instruments and more of a dull wall of sound. While this can usually be ignored, I found myself noticing it again and again. That’s not to say this noisy, flat sound can’t be done well. The Irish group My Bloody Valentine used it to great effect on their seminal studio album Loveless in the nineties. Ought, however, thrives most when the metallic guitar shrieks and clangs clearly cut through the mixes in tracks like “Pleasant Heart” and “Clarity” off their first album.

Musically, Sun Coming Down, doesn’t quite live up to its predecessor either. While More Than Any Other Day contrasted its dissonant noise-rock sound with more melodic pieces of post-rock and post–hardcore, Sun Coming Down fully embraces its atonal nature. Tracks off the former like “Forgiveness” forego the usual clang-y guitar in favor of ambient e-bow compositions that pace out the album well and ensure that the work as a whole doesn’t get weighed down. Ought makes their name on their wild industrial style, but these periodic departures from their usual sound greatly increase the longevity of the More Than Any Other Day. Sun Coming Down largely ignores the necessity to break up the drudgery. Singles like “Men For Miles” and “Beautiful Blue Sky” are more erratic than anything on More Than Any Other Day and singer Tim Beeler’s vocal work is scattered and inconsistent. The outcome is too weighty as well as confused. Without much respite from the atonal sound that Ought can thrive on when done right, the 40-minute LP can feel like an eternity lacking a memorable hook.

Sun Coming Down hasn’t lived up to the expectations. It never picked up the steam that its predecessor had, and making it through 8 tracks felt a bit like work. If Ought’s first release was an acquired taste, their latest effort certainly is. My hope was that the band would address the technical problems and tighten some of the musical shortcomings of More Than Any Other Day, especially its slow second half. Unfortunately the mixing hasn’t been improved and Ought’s taken a step back, loosening their sound a little more. Had they moved in the other direction the group could have quickly become one of the stand-out indie acts of the decade.

Max’s Recommendations:

Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division: Considered the grandfather of the post-punk and indie rock, Joy Division only ever released 2 albums during a two year span, but their spirit lives on. Although the bands lifespan was cut short by the suicide of lead singer, Ian Curtis’s suicide, the remaining members went on to form the highly successful New Order. New Order and its predecessor’s success would inspire Indie acts like The Smiths, The Cure, The Sound, and most recently The National. Strong parallels can be drawn between Ought singer, Tim Beeler, and Ian Curtis, as well as between the two group’s harsh tones.

Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! By Godspeed You! Black Emperor: God Speed You! is the quintessential post-rock band and the face of the underground Montreal music scene. Combining rock instrumentation with classical composition God Speed You! routinely produces long, emotional and entirely instrumental anthems that put as much emphasis on the various movements and the long build-up of a track as they do the final cathartic release. The group’s influences show in Ought’s work, especially on tracks like “Forgiveness” off More Than Any Other Day , were drawn-out, nearly silent sections of songs help to give the listener some rest before the band returns to their usual frenzy.

Sources: http://pitchfork.com/news/60261-ought-announce-new-album-sun-coming-down-share-beautiful-blue-sky/

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