TOUNDRA

There is something inherently soothing about listening to an incredibly well executed instrumental album like Toundra’s IV. Sometimes you do just need to sit back and enjoy music for what it is. There doesn’t need to be a mission behind an album, or a message. You can just enjoy music for what it is, and the beauty surrounding it. Music brings out so many different, varied, emotions in people that sometimes it’s fantastic to get a piece of music that each person can connect to for different reasons.

‘IV’ is unsurprisingly the fourth album to come from Toundra, a post-rock instrumental band from Madrid. With an album like ‘IV’ all you can do is dive straight in and take the beast head on. What Toundra have managed to do is layer their music quite intricately, and it’s within these layers that people pick out the emotions and imagery that they wish to take from the album. There is a story attached to the music, about two foxes escaping their burning forest, and eventually their lost home, but that isn’t exactly necessary to know to get the most out of the album, in fact you will essentially get the most out of it if you dive in unguided.

The album is both inherently soothing and dark at the same time, with each track twisting their sound that little bit to create a different emotion, or set a different scene. ‘Kitsune’ for example is a fairly classic post-rock track, with intricate guitar tones and a driving drum beat behind to lead you through the journey. It is tracks like ‘Viesca’ though that really tells the harrowing tale they wish to tell. Essentially the track is a sombre and uplifting track until the final few seconds where the mood suddenly changes and you really get this feeling of dread in the pit of your stomach.

It’s always great to see band pushing the boundaries of music and attempting something different, and attempting to drive different emotions from people. Toundra have the ability to create such intricate and beautiful post-rock music, that it really does need time spending on it, in order to either full understand the story the band are trying to tell, or to fully form your own interpretations on the album as a whole. The instrumentals are sublime, and honestly the fact that you can make this album so personal is just another reason to give it a go. - Hit The Floor (UK)

The new year has just started – and I’m totally happy to say that 2014 has been an amazing year for music – that I’m already excited for some gems that are going to be released. Among them there’s the fourth album by Toundra, titled IV, perfectly aligned with the previous album titles.
Toundra are a 4 piece outfit from Madrid, Spain. Esteban, Alberto, Macón and Álex have been writing music since 2007 and in 2009 they released their first album (I). If at that time their potentiality was evident, today, after the release of the albums II and III – III is a particularly interesting album and maybe my favourite work from them so far thanks to its dark vein – they are one of the most well-known bands in the instrumental post-metal/post-rock music scene.
IV is the last effort of the Spanish quartet and it’s a collection of eight movements that is not 100% post-rock or 100% post-metal, but a fine mix of the two and that will please several kinds of audiences, from fans of metal to indie rock enthusiasts.
Even though the new album is fully instrumental there is a concept behind it. IV tells the story of two foxes that need to escape from the forest where they live because of a huge fire. For the band, that fire represents our politicians that are destroying our jobs and opportunities while the forest represents our hometowns or the place we want to live. The band were able to deliver this concept with the energy and dynamics that characterise their music style.
On a first listen, I noticed that IV echoes the sound of bands like ISIS and Russian Circles, which for sure influenced the Spanish outfit, but listening more carefully and going deeper into the tracks, I have to tell that Toundra manage to serve you a sonic experience that has its own unique flavour.
‘Strelka’ is the first song of the new record and, as required by the post-rock tradition, its introduction last about 4 minutes before developing in a vertigo of sound where the instruments are combined all together and before dissolving into the following track. It’s a nice start to the album that works as a kind of introduction to the following seven movements. If ‘Strelka’ has a well mixed amount of melody and riffs, the following ‘Qarqom’ is a crazy ride that on the one side demonstrates the talent of the band in terms of execution, but on the other side is a bit too much: there’s no escape, it keeps you constantly on the move and you’ll need to sign with relief. The following tracks ‘Lluvia’, ‘Belenos’ and ‘Viesca’ instead have a great balance of post-metal, post-rock and progressive rock associated with both dark and light moments and their dynamics makes them more appealing. ‘Viesca’, in particular, has the most atypical sound thanks to that trumpets that gives to the all track an unexpected lightness. It’s final is glorious.
The album achieves its best moment with the song ‘Kitsune’ whose title refers to the Japanese myth of Kitsune. It’s not by chance that the band used this song as album preview: the idea of the myth of the Japanese fox ended to influence the whole album and from the music point of view this track encapsulates everything that Toundra have done so far. The dual guitars and the bassist here do their best to deliver a great atmosphere with just enough distortion with the collaboration of the drums that know exactly the time to kick in. The structure of the eight minutes track fluctuates between energetic guitar riff and dynamic drumbeat that explode together in a fast, brilliant and perfectly executed rhythm.
IV is an album that requires more than one listening to be fully understood. It misses that contrast between warm melodies and heavier moments I need to enjoy and to feel a record to the full but if you give it the attention it deserve you’ll conclude that Toundra has delivered an album that is interesting, engaging and fresh, as much as it’s possible in this music genre. - Echoes And Dust (UK)

Jeune groupe espagnol de post-rock, Toundra s'est construit une carrière déjà forte de trois albums unanimement encensés par la planète rock. Loin des poncifs et des clichés souvent associés à ce style, Toundra s'est forgé une identité musicale forte. Il est donc réducteur de les enfermer dans un seul style tant leur rock est varié.

Ce nouvel opus est un concept album racontant l'histoire de deux renards tentant d'échapper au terrible incendie qui ravage la forêt où il vivent, une métaphore pour dépeindre l'affligeant mépris de l'homme pour son environnement. L'entame de ce 'IV' reprend la recette qui a fait le succès des espagnols avec "Strelka" qui s'appuie sur une montée en puissance progressive, des guitares lumineuses, une ligne de basse inquiétante et un jeu de batterie en tous points remarquable. Le jeu versatile d'Alex dans un style proche d'un math-rock à la Toe contribue à la signature musicale unique de Toundra. Ecoutez "Oro Rojo", "Strelka" ou "Belenos" pour finir de vous en convaincre.

Toundra possède de réels points communs avec les suisses de Monkey3 ou les allemands de Long Distance Calling. Tous les trois sont les pionniers et les fers de lance de ce nouveau courant de post-rock heavy et progressif. Leur musique sait se faire agressive ou atmosphérique et les ambiances qu'ils créent provoquent nombre d'émotions en stimulant l'imagination de l'auditeur grâce à des compositions instrumentales passionnantes. La paire "Qarqom" - "Lluvia" en est le parfait exemple avec le premier, long titre progressif dans sa construction qui évolue jusqu'à une explosion de guitares saturées à laquelle fait suite le second, litanie de guitares dissonantes sombres et inquiétantes, voire dérangeantes, qui rappelle les plus sombre passages de 'III'.

Toundra n'a pas son pareil pour prendre l'auditeur à revers comme sur "VIesca" avec la douceur du violon et des cuivres qui semblent tout droit sortis d'un 'Atom Heart Mother 'de Pink Floyd. "Kitsune" est une autre pièce évoluant progressivement d'arpèges de guitares claires vers un déferlement de riffs heavy et répétitifs soutenus par une rythmique hypnotisante. La fin de l'album est dans la même veine mais le propos tend à s'essouffler quelque peu, comme si tout avait déjà été dit et que la surprise n'était plus aussi efficace. L'ambiance quant à elle reste homogène et l'impression de plénitude s'étend jusqu'aux dernières mesures de "Oro Rojo".

Toundra, fidèle à ses préceptes, nous livre un quatrième album dans la lignée des précédents, dans leur style caractéristique fait de phrasés évolutifs et d'ambiances entre heavy et atmosphérique. Moins sombre que son prédécesseur, ce 'IV' pose une nouvelle pierre à l'édifice du groupe en asseyant encore un peu plus sa position de précurseur de ce nouveau genre de rock instrumental. Si vous avez aimé les trois premiers albums, celui-ci en est le parfait complément. Pour les autres, Toundra est un groupe à découvrir d'urgence. - Music Waves (FR)