Labels: Gringo
Review by: Andy Malcolm
Mmm, this is some nice stuff. I am Spartacus is an instrumental band who gained a little notoriety with about 5 of their friends I think. I was told about them a while back by Chris from the band Reynolds, he said he had a tape of their stuff which was amazing. So when this actually turned up in the mail on CD for review I was rather intrigued to hear it. And well, it’s worth a listen indeed.
It kicks up with the slow-burning “A Dream Woke Me”, lead on by brooding piano and subtle guitar work. Adding further classical instrumentation at times, giving it a very sombre mood. And the album then proceeds over 50 minutes of rather starkly beautiful music. I’ll throw around some simple comparisons such as Mogwai, Godspeed, a vocal-less Arab Strap and Rachel’s to give you an idea of what kind of ballpark the Spart are lurking in. And very good they are too. If they were on some kind of trendy Chicago label then post rock kids would be cracking one off whilst listening to this.
It’s difficult to find too many more words to describe this release. I am struggling right now in fact. Simply it is a very good record, and if you are into quiet instrumental music that builds up and is played extremely well, often sounds horribly sad and has a wide variety of instruments including like cello’s or something, then you will most definitely appreciate what I am Spartacus are doing here. They have a few former Bob Tilton members here too, I guess this would have followed on very nicely from the 2nd Bob Tilton LP in terms of progression in some ways. Maybe. I haven’t listened to that LP recently. So yeah. Good!