Red Room Cinema

Red Room Cinema is a band that needs to be talked about much more. The Tampa-based act quietly self-released a pristine sounding and colorfully packaged full-length in 2007 to only sporadic acclaim, but it's deserving of much more widespread praise.

Over the course of 7 songs and 48 minutes, Red Room Cinema craft mostly instrumental, complex songs that never sound particularly similar to any one act. However, fans of the Appleseed Cast, American Football and bands that lean more towards post-rock will enjoy the gradual buildups and earnest, minimally used vocals that make up the album. I'm hard-pressed to draw comparisons to standard namedrops like Explosions in the Sky or Do Make Say Think, as Red Room Cinema stray from both bright twinkle -- excusing “...At Long Last the Sun Has Set, and the Earth Drifts Into a Much Needed Slumber” -- and electronic usage at all times; however, they're definitely similarly adept at setting up moods and establishing gripping soundscapes.

The all-instrumental opener "Colussus" sets up the first of those many soundscapes to come, while the second track, "The Fledgling" offers those emotive vocals only a few minutes in. "Close Your Eyes and Count to Ten" is one of the best songs, opening with depressingly beautiful chords set to the joyous chatter of children on a playground as background noise. It then transitions into a more active motion, with lush, intertwining guitars that ride the middle ground between atmospheric theatrics and math rock riffing.

The rest of Red Room Cinema carefully balances itself between those standard moments of vocal-led movement and instrumental sections of prickly, serene guitars and soft percussion. There are a lot of bands like Red Room Cinema garnering press the last year or so; hopefully this album propels them right into that group.

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Colossus
The Fledgling
Exalted in the Technique of Homicide
Moonrace