For me, “Post Rock” is something I lost interest in shortly after the release of “The Earth Is A Cold Dead Place” by Explosions In The Sky. This is mainly down to the fact that the aforementioned album seemed to have caused a shit storm of copycat bands that diluted the sub genre to the point where I just couldn’t be bothered separating the wheat from the chaff anymore.

Fortunately Post Harbor’s sophomore effort isn’t really “Post Rock” as such. Instead I like to think it’s heavily drawn out Indie Rock that to some people could easily be interpreted as “Post Rock”. However at no point does it go the extra mile into full instrumental territory thanks to the occasional vocals that manage to break the band from being constrained within a typecast genre, perfectly highlighted on tracks like “Augustine” and “Cities Of The Interior”.

“They Can’t Hurt You If You Don’t Believe In Them” is certainly an ambitious effort, comparable to that of The Appleseed Cast’s “Low Level Owl” series in the way that conventional indie song writing is thrown out of the window in favour of a fuller, more varied and epic approach.
The main difference here though, is that instead of drawing out one album’s worth of music across two discs, Post Harbor have managed to perfectly condense the contents into one solid ten track, 50 minute album.
Variety is one of the album’s strongest attributes and is also what makes this album so unique. Be it the serene & lavish strings layered amongst the occasional electronic click & beep or the Jeremy Enigk-like vocals that draw the listener in with their sheer beauty, “They Can’t Hurt You If You Don’t Believe In Them” is an album that you can just sit there and absorb without your attention span waning in the least bit.

If criticisms did have to be made about the record then I would certainly question some of the almost prog like synths and vocal effects that ruin the overall flow of an otherwise seamless record.

If you’ can spare 50 minutes of your time on a this record then you will be heavily rewarded for doing so, best listened to with headphones.

Augustine

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