Hailing from the industrial wasteland known as Hamilton, the Rest play their haunting echoey indie rock with the beauty and skill of any of their more recognized contemporaries. Which brings up my point of this review: the Rest deserve to be known. Everyone All At Once is an incredible album, with all the ingredients of a very promising band. I have to admit, when I first heard of the Rest, I assumed they would be another local badly produced indie band that sounds like every other local badly produced indie band that is trying to be Modest Mouse. But no! They have layers of reverby guitar and cello, complicated turns in songs, and soaring buildups. Each track stands out on its own, but also keeps to the dark, expansive theme of the album. The album itself flows so nicely, each song going without a hiccup in between.
The first track "Coughing Blood / Fresh Mountain Air" is one of my favourites. It starts off with a dark bit of strings that quickly leads into an incredibly tender verse that builds and builds. Guitar lines become more complicated, strings move up in the mix, percussion slowly builds as the vocals reach there climax right before the song kicks into it's main theme. Incredible falsetto and crashing cymbals end to a sorrowful violin. Utterly stunning.
"Walk On Water (Auspicious Beginnings)" explores a more happy side of things. It works itself into a jumpy beat and upbeat vocals, before it changes completely to another happy little bit with a new vocal line, until finally it ends a joyous flailing guitar driven ending.
The title track, and also the final track, is split into two parts. The first, another upbeat number with little "ooo, ooo, ooo" backup vocals and sparkling guitar. The second half is another buildup that makes you want to stand in the middle of a misty forest, or on the edge of a cliff, or another location that would warrant such epic and beautiful music. The album takes you out the way you came in with a couple lines of strings that bring you down, mellows you out, and make you ready for a long deep sleep.
The Rest have crafted a beautiful album that is surely to please anyone looking for a reverby indie rock fix. And it makes me realize that maybe there are maybe a few good things that can come out of Hamilton.
Rating: 4 out of 5
-Lucas Thurston
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