Review

Souvenir’s Young America
September Songs
RIYL: Russian Circles, Isis, Grails, Godspeed You! Black Emperor
"6:39"

Two words: Richmond, Virginia. Also, freight trains, but that may be my GY!BE nostalgia seeping through. This new release by Souvenir’s Young America takes us across all the familiar tracks of the instrumental post-rock scene while not forgetting the importance of capturing one’s attention before a song even takes off. Right from the get-go, September Songs howls desperately through the twang of a harmonica fit perfectly for some lonesome down-and-out roughnecking it through the old west. But all reminiscence and melodic harmonies aside, September Songs has more than its fair share of epic build-ups and heavy guitar work. And while they don’t take on quite the same amount of metallic intensity of bands like Isis, Souvenir’s Young America thankfully reach out with an urgency refreshing enough to maintain a captivating originality in a genre oversaturated by bands all too willing to cash in on the doom and gloom motif. Even though the album only features three tracks, September Songs is an effort deserving of anyone interested in, or even the slightest bit curious of, the future of post-rock outside of its established confines.