Labels: MoonLee
Review by: Alex Deller
Polite and extremely pretty, Croatia’s Don’t Mess With Texas engage you from the off with Sound Of One Lung Filling, a brooding number sounding much like Mogwai might if they decided to pay homage to John Carpenter, winding up their mellow post rock with a neat minor key piano line before crashing into life some five or six minutes down the line. This sets the stage nicely for what is to follow; a stripped-down set of songs relying on simplicity and subtle shifts in mood and dynamic rather than an overblown sense of self-importance or a mad rush to throw as many instruments into the melting pot as possible. Sparse as they are, DMWT seem to have really taken the time out to decide what sounds good rather than what merely sounds clever, making their seemingly simple piano pieces integral parts of the music, setting them against delicate drum patterns and hypnotically recurrent guitar lines that seep from whispers into louder rock-outs with natural grace. It’s a fine, fine listen and worth considerably more of your time than many more established acts cranking out routine post-rock jams without a hint of DMWT’s understated charm.