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The Constellation Branch - Mirage

Rating

RIYL

Radiohead
Lovedrug
Grammatics

Release Date

09/17/2010

Label

River Jones Music Label

Tracklist

1. Fata Morgana
2. Hold Your Own
3. Oneironaut
4. Leaves
5. The Mirage
6. Mad Hatter

The Constellation Branch wowed many critics (including us!) two years ago with their debut full length The Dream Life, The Real Life, The Empty Glass, which featured nearly 60 minutes of dark, atmospheric indie rock over the course of the album’s three segments. Fans of the band will be happy to hear that they’re back again, but this time with a six-song EP entitled Mirage. Going from an epic full length to an EP immediately makes Mirage a lesser effort from the quartet’s previous release, but it’s still a decent outing that deserves some recognition.

Mirage starts off with the eerie intro track “Fata Morgana,” which consists of a sporadic guitar riff layered with whispering and faint singing in the background, which then transitions into the first song “Hold Your Own.” When the music kicks in, it’s a little confusing because of its simplistic and upbeat nature compared to The Constellation Branch’s older songs that were densely layered with dreary tones. The change isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but unexpected, and the track seems out of place on the EP. Moving on to “Oneironaut,” the third song, a more recognizable form of the band takes shape with multi-layered instrumentation grounded by a sullen piano part that sets the mood for the whole song. There’s enough going on here to make it interesting but not too much that it overwhelms the listener, which was one of the biggest downsides to The Constellation Branch’s last album.

The latter half of Mirage gives the listener a calming break with the song “Leaves.” It’s an acoustic track with haunting harmonies that flow nicely into the next track, “The Mirage.” This song has a lighter feel than the other ones, marked by dreamy guitar melodies that build to a climax towards the middle and then softly dissipate only to regain strength again at the end. The final track, “Mad Hatter,” frantically closes out the EP with a nearly eight-minute journey through a more experimental side of the band. The aggressive first third of the song abruptly ends, tricking the listener into thinking the EP is over. The song slowly starts to take shape again, though, and soon enough it erupts with screaming guitars and various vocal parts layered on top of one another to end the track.

The songs on Mirage aren’t a huge step up for The Constellation Branch, but there are subtle improvements that hint at musical progression. The biggest issue with this release, though, is that the songs don’t seem to fit very well on an EP so it’s an awkward listening experience. With the band’s full length, all the songs shared a similar tone and made sense in the context of one another, but Mirage doesn’t have that cohesive feeling. Granted, EPs don’t necessarily have to be cohesive, but this format doesn’t complement the band’s songs and they probably would have been better off writing a few more tracks to make it a full length. That being said, Mirage is still a respectable EP that should continue to generate interest in The Constellation Branch.

--Nicholas Fritz

Author

Nicholas Fritz

Last updated: 10/07/2010 06:00AM