{"id":729,"date":"2017-11-23T18:03:41","date_gmt":"2017-11-23T18:03:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-human-pyramids-home\/"},"modified":"2017-11-23T18:03:41","modified_gmt":"2017-11-23T18:03:41","slug":"review-human-pyramids-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-human-pyramids-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Human Pyramids – Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Coming out of Glasgow, composer Paul Russell’s project Human Pyramids<\/b> is an interesting concept. Defying genre, the 16-piece collective’s second album, ‘Home’<\/i> fuses neo-classical and orchestral ambition with post-rock sensibility, making something that’s altogether unique.<\/p>\n

Though strings and brass feature prominently throughout ‘Home’<\/i>, there are guitar riffs straight out of the rock ‘n’ roll playbook on songs such as ‘Louise’<\/i> and ‘Crackle Pop’<\/i>, and some electronic flourishes on ‘Big Data’<\/i> and >‘Canned Thunder’<\/i>, both of which ensure the album sounds modern enough. Most of the songs also follow the gradual build-up structure of post-rock, but rather than using typically “rock” instruments, employ orchestral ones (despite the presence of guitar on some songs).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The combination of these different elements is an interesting concept and one that’s pulled off in many of the tracks throughout ‘Home’<\/i> \u2013 ‘Big Data’<\/i> in particular masterfully combines synthesizers with choral vocals. The piano playing is a highlight throughout, especially on tracks where it’s the lead instrument, for example, ‘Slush’<\/i> and the closing title track.<\/p>\n

Despite its strengths, ‘Home’<\/i> has a tendency to drag and become repetitive at times, as Russell and co. repeat various motifs throughout the album. For example, the use of triumphant-sounding brass is fun on ‘Shaking Hands’<\/i>, but becomes grating by the time we reach ‘Nico’<\/i> because of how prevalent this trope is.<\/p>\n

Tracks such as ‘Heartbeats’<\/i> can also be very thin and forgettable, and the aforementioned ‘Slush’<\/i> drags a bit when not playing to the strengths of its initially piano-based nature. Human Pyramids<\/b> do try and break this monotony with the understated, bare-bones glockenspiel track ‘Phase’<\/i>, and the inclusion of acoustic guitar on ‘Your Flag’<\/i>, but it’s still hard not to notice.<\/p>\n

‘Home’<\/i>, for all its inventiveness, never reaches the ambitious heights it so clearly strives for. Despite this, its a generally enjoyable listen and puts an interesting spin on modern post-rock and orchestral music, and is at the very least worthwhile for that reason.<\/p>\n

3\/5<\/p>\n

‘Home’<\/i> by Human Pyramids<\/b> is out now on Three Mile Town Records<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Human Pyramids<\/b> links: Website<\/a>|Facebook<\/a>|Twitter<\/a>|Bandcamp<\/a><\/p>\n

Words by Alan Cunningham (@funeral_polis<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Coming out of Glasgow, composer Paul Russell’s project Human Pyramids is an interesting concept. Defying genre, the 16-piece collective’s second album, ‘Home’ fuses neo-classical and orchestral ambition with post-rock sensibility, making something that’s altogether unique. Though strings and brass feature prominently throughout ‘Home’, there are guitar riffs straight out of the rock ‘n’ roll playbook […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16769,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[558,557,559],"class_list":["post-729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-home","tag-human-pyramids","tag-three-mile-town-records"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nReview: Human Pyramids - Home - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Coming out of Glasgow, composer Paul Russell’s project Human Pyramids is an interesting concept. 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