Long distance calling how do we want to live

HOW DO WE WANT TO LIVE?

Long Distance Calling

Post Rock/Math rock

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Excellent addition to any
prog rock music collection

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Curiosity (Part 1) (2:56)
2. Curiosity (Part 2) (4:26)
3. Hazard (6:08)
4. Voices (7:54)
5. Fail / Opportunity (3:07)
6. Immunity (5:40)
7. Sharing Thoughts (7:25)
8. Beyond Your Limits (6:24)
9. True / Negative (2:33)
10. Ashes (6:12)

Total Time 52:45

Line-up / Musicians

— Janosch Rathmer / drums
— Florian Fьntmann / guitars
— Jan Hoffmann / bass
— David Jordan / guitars

With:
— Eric A. Pulverich / vocals (8)

Releases information

Label: InsideOut Music
Format: Vinyl (Black, Ltd. Deluxe Neon Yellow 2LP + Neon Yellow 7″ + CD Box Set), CD, Digital
June 26, 2020

Thanks to mbzr48 for the addition
and to rivertree for the last updates
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Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(20%)

LONG DISTANCE CALLING How Do We Want to Live? reviews

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Some genres are quite narrow in scope, while some are so wide as to almost be boundless. Post rock veers more towards the latter, with a huge variation of sounds and styles being ascribed the tag. And yet, take almost any band described as post rock and they will be seemingly playing within their own boundaries. Long Distance Calling, however, seem to take on a different aspect of the post rock expanse for each subsequent release. Each of their albums has been quite different, and in that respect they are possibly one of the most progressive of post rock bands. For their seventh studio album in the fourteen years since their first release, Long Distance Calling look to the past and the future simultaneously.

Hazard starts strongly, with delicate guitar played over powerful drumming. It’s probably the most straightforward post rock song on the album, which makes it a strange choice of single to me, as it is least reflective of the prowess of the band. Like the opening pair of tracks, the use of voice samples is terrifically effective, my favourite moment in the track being when those samples stop, and the guitars simply soar and roar. The rhythm section is thunderous, with the bass rumbling, and the drums echoing. The song as a whole doesn’t do a lot for me compared with others on the album, but those final minutes are an absolute joy to listen to.

Voices begins with an electronic beat and melody, reminiscent of Depeche Mode, and similarly moody. This is the song most people are likely to have come across, as it was released as a single with a quite explicit video of the sexual relationship between a man and his life-like Artificial Intelligence companion. I love the drums here, they propel it along for the first half before the guitars join in. The drums hold a commanding presence throughout this album, and Long Distance Calling’s discography in general. This makes their rare absence even more noticeable than it would be otherwise, and their return more welcome. That said, it is the interplay of all the instruments that creates the magic of Long Distance Calling. They make everything sound effortless and fluid, and the last minute of this song, when they are all going for it, is amazing.

Despite its short length, Fail/Opportunity is a real beaut, with an almost jazzy trip hop vibe to the beat. Caught somewhere between ambient and orchestral, while maintaining its post rock cred, the piece provides a perfect preface to the following Immunity. Does it relate to our opportunity to react to the present pandemic sweeping the globe, and the failure of many countries to do so, or to do so quickly enough? Is Immunity even about that present pandemic? I don’t actually know, and yet it ebbs and flows like the waves of the virus. Building with increasing menace, falling away, only to build again but stronger, harder, faster.

And if Sharing Thoughts doesn’t evoke the ’80s for you, then surely Beyond Your Limits will, with the first appearance of vocals (rather than voice samples) on the album. I’ve never heard of Eric A Pulverich outside this album, but he has a voice which is, to me, reminiscent of ’80s yacht and hair rock. The drums again have an ’80s sound at times, even more Phil Collins than in Sharing Thoughts. I’ll be honest, though. I’ve nearly always preferred the instrumental side of Long Distance Calling. While they have had some terrific vocal performances throughout their albums (and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Trips, which is probably their most vocal-heavy album), the attraction has always been the instrumental prowess of the band. So, this is probably my least favourite track on the album.

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