(Post Rock) Up-C Down-C Left-C Right-C ABC + Start — Embers / 2008, FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Score: 9/10
Almost two years ago I went to see Motivesounds label-mates Capulet play with Mt. and a band I had heard little about, upcdowncleftcrightcabc+start. I attended the show with the expectation to be thoroughly entertained by the Motivesounds roster, but I was completely surprised by the third band who actually ended up impressing me the most. Quickly I attained a copy of And the Battle is Won, and frequently relived the magic of that incendiary live experience.
Forward ahead two years and roughly 12,000 listens of And the Battle is Won, and we are eagerly awaiting the follow up from Kent’s mighty upcdowncleftcrightcabc+start (hereafter referred to as upcdownc). Sometimes a band can create a fantastic debut album and struggle to follow it with something that is even close in quality to the original. What makes this common situation even more difficult to overcome is when fans stir up the hype, attract more fans, and then those fans stir up even more hype...until somewhere along the way the band finally announces a new album, only to then have it eventually delayed a year in a strategy which seems to accomplish little more than to frustrate the heck out of loyal fans!
So, three years after And The Battle Is Won, expectations are high - but do they live up to the rather relentless hype? In short, the answer is yes. What upcdownc have done here is to take their trademark sound, a kind of stripped-down melodic heaviness, and to embellish it with all kinds of elaborate flourishes, without losing the immense appeal of the debut. Some of the beautiful timelessness evident in "New Year" and "Sadako’s Fury" from the debut is replicated in this instance, but amplified tenfold. "Get To The Chopper," for instance, begins the album proper, after a short introductory song. Drawing the listener in with beautifully panned delicate guitar notes over a droning bass part, the piece slowly crescendos into the crushing assault that immediately reminds you why we waited almost three years to hear this record.
Another fine example of this depth of feeling is found in the grandiose "Murmurs Pt. 2." Segueing slowly into a beautiful acoustic guitar and layered with uninhibited violins and almost celestial chimes, it feels as though the piece could stay just the same way for over a week and not lose any of the charm it exhibits in these first few seconds. Before long, the oft-used but (surprisingly) never boring crescendo becomes apparent. Layering guitars over each other and slowly increasing the volume of the other parts sounds rather obvious, doesn’t it? It is, but in this case, it is done with such panache that it makes you wonder why everyone doesn’t take their time in doing these things.
One thing that I constantly allude to in many of my reviews is that a sense of continuity is absolutely vital to an album having that mass appeal, and because Embers shifts so much between opposite ends of the dynamic spectrum, it is a credit to them that they manage to maintain even a shred of cohesion throughout the album. Forget the shred, the shred is long gone, what we have here is a fully realized linear narrative, made even more impressive by the time it takes for this to become wholly apparent. As the album continues, the delicate intervals become fewer and the heavy sections become more pronounced, giving the feeling of a journey. The cadences become darker, and the guitars more scathing with each passing track, truly pummeling the listener with the light/dark contrast, and adding even more to the unimaginable depth of feeling portrayed with each movement.
As I mentioned before, making a follow-up so long after the original album is always going to be a hard feat to accomplish, but with Embers, upcdownc manage without a shadow of a doubt. This is an album steeped in inexplicably beautiful consonance, juxtaposed with crushing heaviness, and at no point does any of it feel labored. What could have so easily been a disappointing elegy has triumphed in a way that will have their fans (old and new) willing to wait as long as it takes for a follow-up.
Barry Smethurst

REM GENRE Post-Rock
REM DATE 2008
REM DISCID 870D830A
REM COMMENT "ExactAudioCopy v0.95b4"
PERFORMER "UpcDownCLeftCRightCABC+Start"
TITLE "Embers"
FILE "01 - Embers And Ashes.flac" WAVE
  TRACK 01 AUDIO
    TITLE "Embers And Ashes"
    PERFORMER "UpcDownCLeftCRightCABC+Start"
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
  TRACK 02 AUDIO
    TITLE "Get To The Chopper"
    PERFORMER "UpcDownCLeftCRightCABC+Start"
    INDEX 00 00:43:05
FILE "02 - Get To The Chopper.flac" WAVE
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
  TRACK 03 AUDIO
    TITLE "Our Flowers"
    PERFORMER "UpcDownCLeftCRightCABC+Start"
    INDEX 00 07:49:45
FILE "03 - Our Flowers.flac" WAVE
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
  TRACK 04 AUDIO
    TITLE "Murmurs Pt. 2"
    PERFORMER "UpcDownCLeftCRightCABC+Start"
    INDEX 00 05:12:20
FILE "04 - Murmurs Pt. 2.flac" WAVE
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
  TRACK 05 AUDIO
    TITLE "New Chapters"
    PERFORMER "UpcDownCLeftCRightCABC+Start"
    INDEX 00 05:54:11
FILE "05 - New Chapters.flac" WAVE
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
  TRACK 06 AUDIO
    TITLE "McDoomish"
    PERFORMER "UpcDownCLeftCRightCABC+Start"
    INDEX 00 01:17:39
FILE "06 - McDoomish.flac" WAVE
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
  TRACK 07 AUDIO
    TITLE "Murmurs Part 1"
    PERFORMER "UpcDownCLeftCRightCABC+Start"
    INDEX 00 08:22:09
FILE "07 - Murmurs Part 1.flac" WAVE
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
  TRACK 08 AUDIO
    TITLE "Cascades"
    PERFORMER "UpcDownCLeftCRightCABC+Start"
    INDEX 00 05:17:49
FILE "08 - Cascades.flac" WAVE
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
  TRACK 09 AUDIO
    TITLE "Fireflies"
    PERFORMER "UpcDownCLeftCRightCABC+Start"
    INDEX 00 04:42:06
FILE "09 - Fireflies.flac" WAVE
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
  TRACK 10 AUDIO
    TITLE "The Creeping Fear"
    PERFORMER "UpcDownCLeftCRightCABC+Start"
    INDEX 00 07:57:39
FILE "10 - The Creeping Fear.flac" WAVE
    INDEX 01 00:00:00

EAC extraction logfile from 9. October 2008, 17:17 for CD
UpcDownCLeftCRightCABC+Start / Embers
Used drive  : PHILIPS DVDR1628P1   Adapter: 1  ID: 0
Read mode   : Secure with NO C2, accurate stream, disable cache
Read offset correction : 618
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Used output format : C:\Program Files\FLAC\flac.exe   (User Defined Encoder)
                     256 kBit/s
                     Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "artist=%a" -T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T "date=%y" -T "tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" %s
Other options      :
    Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
    Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
    Installed external ASPI interface
Track  1
     Filename F:\Musique\FLAC\UpcDownC - Embers (2008)\01 - Embers And Ashes.wav
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     Peak level 60.9 %
     Track quality 99.7 %
     Test CRC 264E32C1
     Copy CRC 264E32C1
     Copy OK
Track  2
     Filename F:\Musique\FLAC\UpcDownC - Embers (2008)\02 - Get To The Chopper.wav
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     Test CRC 3B599780
     Copy CRC 3B599780
     Copy OK
Track  3
     Filename F:\Musique\FLAC\UpcDownC - Embers (2008)\03 - Our Flowers.wav
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     Test CRC 9F8A5F9B
     Copy CRC 9F8A5F9B
     Copy OK
Track  4
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     Test CRC A5C29DDA
     Copy CRC A5C29DDA
     Copy OK
Track  5
     Filename F:\Musique\FLAC\UpcDownC - Embers (2008)\05 - New Chapters.wav
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     Test CRC 6BF34E09
     Copy CRC 6BF34E09
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Track  6
     Filename F:\Musique\FLAC\UpcDownC - Embers (2008)\06 - McDoomish.wav
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     Test CRC A7B757B9
     Copy CRC A7B757B9
     Copy OK
Track  7
     Filename F:\Musique\FLAC\UpcDownC - Embers (2008)\07 - Murmurs Part 1.wav
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     Test CRC 444CCD46
     Copy CRC 444CCD46
     Copy OK
Track  8
     Filename F:\Musique\FLAC\UpcDownC - Embers (2008)\08 - Cascades.wav
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     Test CRC D0BE47B1
     Copy CRC D0BE47B1
     Copy OK
Track  9
     Filename F:\Musique\FLAC\UpcDownC - Embers (2008)\09 - Fireflies.wav
     Pre-gap length  0:00:02.44
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     Test CRC 34E56C50
     Copy CRC 34E56C50
     Copy OK
Track 10
     Filename F:\Musique\FLAC\UpcDownC - Embers (2008)\10 - The Creeping Fear.wav
     Pre-gap length  0:00:03.57
     Peak level 98.8 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC 77A092C7
     Copy CRC 77A092C7
     Copy OK
No errors occured
End of status report