Whatever way you look at it, this a difficult review to write. It would have been hard enough ten years ago, when post-rock giants 65daysofstatic first released their debut album ‘The Fall of Math’, but fast forward a decade and the record has become genre-defining. Even with five more albums released since, the debut can stand up to any of them, and even though it took four extra years until it was officially released in the United States, it has helped British post-rock go global in a big way.
The chances are that you’re already familiar with the beak in the heart. You can already recite the intro to ‘Retreat, Retreat!’ at a moment’s notice; most of you will have contributed repeatedly to the album’s five million last.fm scrobbles. The love amongst both hardcore fans and casual listeners has not come close to waning in the decade since its release, and ten years from now it’s likely to be the exact same story. From ‘Another Code Against The Gone’ all the way to ‘Aren’t We All Running?’, the eleven-track debut is pure timeless post-rock that has fuelled a myriad of new bands under its influence, often coming close but never quite outdoing the Sheffield quartet at their own game. It’s difficult to pick a standout track from a record where everything shines, but there is a reason that ‘Retreat, Retreat!’ remains one of the band’s flagship songs, while ‘I Swallowed Hard, Like I Understood’ is another brilliant highlight of the album’s first half. The title track and ‘This Cat is a Landmine’ follow with a similar shearing power, the latter remaining a prominent fixture in 65daysofstatic setlists to date alongside a couple of others. ‘Install a Beak in the Heart that Clucks Time in Arabic’ is another, following up the introductory track ‘Another Code Against the Gone’ to really bring ‘The Fall of Math’ up to speed, gradually building up to piledriving levels of unshakeably danceable sound.
‘Hole’ was the second single from the album and its title EP will also be bundled in with the rerelease. The B-sides to ‘Retreat, Retreat!’ are also included in both the album and vinyl versions, but it’s the core record where the real beauty lies. ‘Fix the Sky a Little’ is another track that continues to receive airplay in the band’s live shows to this day, and rightfully so, with its status as the penultimate track not setting it back one iota – 65daysofstatic are hardly a band to lose momentum. It leads into ‘Aren’t We All Running?’ to see the record out with a massive finish, from a simple keyboard intro to the kind of rib-shaking crescendo that the four-piece have become synonymous with, their debut album’s final flourish draws a line under ‘The Fall of Math’ as it always will do, cementing it as the juggernaut that it always will be. Imitated repeatedly; influenced many, but it hasn’t been bested yet.
Drowned in Sound said it better than most back in 2004, music really is all about escapism. Since 2004, this is exactly what 65daysofstatic have become; escapist music that has carried them to international recognition. It’s impressive that even while the quartet have grown and evolved with each release put out in that time, none seem inferior to the others and ‘The Fall of Math’ remains just as remarkable as the rest of it. As on the other side of the Atlantic, Explosions in the Sky have set themselves up as the irresistible force of post-rock, 65daysofstatic have become Britain’s immovable object. The genre has never looked better, and neither have its roots.
5/5
‘The Fall of Math’ (10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) by 65daysofstatic is released on 24th March on Monotreme Records.
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Words by Antony Lusmore (@Metacosmica)
