Album Details

• Artist: A Whisper In The Noise
• Album: To Forget
• Label: Exile On Mainstream
• Year of Release: 2012
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: solitaryman on 2012-05-08

A Whisper In The Noise are an experimental/post-rock outfit from Minnesota, USA. I've actually been a fan of theirs for quite some time, having come across them at random while first discovering the post-rock genre. While I wouldn't categorize their sound as purely post-rock, there are definitely elements of their sound that lend comparisons to the likes of Explosions In The Sky and Mono in particular. AWITN combine instrumental navel-gaze with emotive atmospheres, slightly more conventional song structures (relatively speaking) and pensive, subdued vocals. Woven together, the results are a wonderful, poignant collection of depressive forays into human emotion.

To Forget grows on you, but manages to do enough on the first few spins to keep your attention peaked. The opening instrumental title track is one such immediate impact, a choking spiral of melody that feels like an immovable force of heavy atmosphere. "Black Shroud" veers a bit into a more traditionally single-esque style, but the dual layered vocals and clockwork melody still enrich the song with the more ethereal, imaginative qualities I've always found most fascinating about the band. "A Sea Estranging Us" may not reveal it's truest rewards the first time it's heard, but it's rich layered textures and sparse, "less is more" percussive stabs are combined with fluid chemistry. "All My" has a bit more of the "macabre ballroom waltz" feel that I have come to expect from the band based on prior works, where my personal imagery contributes something to the track I couldn't possibly relate. "Sad Sad Song" is very open and accessible, perhaps a bit of a square peg in a round hole with it's alt-country twang but well-written and performed all the same. The album closes with "Your Hand" and "Of This Sorrow", two very haunting and meloncholy pieces that, in a way, contradict the more typical direction of ending on a high note. These songs leave you staring off into space, contemplating some personal tragedy or regret. The important thing, however, is that it draws anything out of you, whether good or bad.


To Forget seems to portray a series of emotional goodbyes to something, or someone. It longs for, recalls fondly but bitterly and decides to never let go of, some previously owned but no longer attainable cherised person or place or thing. That may strictly be personal interpretation, but regardless, the beautiful instrumentation and practiced songwriting of A Whisper In The Noise are sure to leave you contemplative of some beautiful tragedy, whether personal or simply percieved via the music's imagery-inspiring atmospheres. To Forget is one of the better collections of emotive, classically inspired music you're going to find. 

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