Leave it to the sprawling landscapes of Texas to inspire an album
that unfolds with the relaxed pace of a tall tale told at a campfire.
With their fourth full-length, Bad Vibrations, Austin’s My
Education tell wordless stories without falling prey to the failures
endemic to much instrumental post-rock. Their repetition is a slow
build instead of a tedious drone, free of pretentious noodling, and the
emotional palette is more nuanced than a simplistic “quiet equals
lonely, loud equals angry.” Instead, the album deals in mixed moods,
giving its concepts time to reach fruition, with moments of tenderness
and hope balancing out the occasional wrath.
Bad Vibrations opens with “This Old House,” a plodding affair
driven primarily by a combination of bass drum, viola, and strummed
guitar. As with most of the album, this one doesn’t climax so much as
reach a logical conclusion, gently adding layers over the track’s
length (almost eight and a half minutes; only one song on the album
comes in under five) before drifting back into silence. That confident
patience allows songs to expand at their own unrushed pace. The viola
adds some interest to the old quiet/loud/quiet dynamic—strings
eventually give way to guitar squalls on “Arch” and “Britches Blanket,”
while “Aria” inverts the relationship with insistent viola dominating
the fuzz. “Sluts and Maniacs” draws from both post-rock schools,
starting with piano-led jazz-leaning groove (think Tortoise) before
shifting to a guitarcentric wall of noise (think Explosions in the Sky)
that, while it might not be the world’s most epic, is one of few
accompanied by vibraphone.
The album sunsets with the country-tinged title track, and the
untitled hidden track merely brings the point homethe sounds of a
crackling fire providing respite from the previous hour’s pleasurable
but emotionally taxing journey.