Pioneer – Common Tongues (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

It’s very easy to hold partisan ideas regarding music technology. Acoustic sounds are either true and honest or Luddite and antiquated depending on where you stand, similarly, noise altering and sound replicating technology is seen as either cheating or the way forward. But it doesn’t have to be this way and Common Tongues know that only full well.

 
Pioneers is like wandering down a wooded pathway that gradually opens out on to striking modern landscapes. Gentle acoustic sounds draw you down this familiar path as hints of something new, bold and vivid can be glimpsed fleeting through the trees. Then suddenly you are gazing out on a beautiful city skyline and the future beckons.

The slow burning build here is wonderful; it creates anticipation and atmosphere before propelling you into the sweeping dynamics of the full band sound. It soars and swoops, heads up towards crescendos, drops back towards quiet lulls as it applies an almost post-rock attitude to more defined alternative rock territory. I can think of a lot worse ways of spending 5 minutes.