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Like stars twinkling

The dreamy, warbled beginning to ‘Two-Too High’ is perfect, it feels like you are listening to the song while floating underwater. With acoustic guitar, twinkling bells and washes of cymbal, it’s so soothing you immediately feel comforted. “Bones in the Soil, Rust in the Oil” has post-rock tendencies but ranges from sweet indie flourishes right through to epic, complex riffage. The thirteen minute title track ‘Bones in the Soil, Rust in the Oil’ has many changes of tone and pace. Vocally it’s reminiscent of indie darling Ben Gibbard at times, but musically it’s a million miles away and far more complex than Death Cab For Cutie have ever been; mathy guitars quietly tremble in the background and the stop-start, jittery drums keep you on your toes.

‘Alive in the Tone’ has a skin tingling melody, the distortion on the guitar sends lovely rumbles through your speakers; ‘These Luminous Noises Are God’ shows off the jazz drums that form the backbone to the album, playfully running under the off kilter guitar riffs. The rhythms are broken but flow beautifully, somehow holding everything together and creating a danceable tune. ‘Legs To Walk Us, To Drop Us’ opens out into a moment of heady jangly, guitar chords almost jar together, then those jazz rhythms take over again, backed by twinkling picking.

There are so many great moments on this record, the kind that make you want to make everyone else around you listen to as well. Pretend have a wonderful knack of pulling together jarring elements and making them sound beautiful. The record feels organic, it flows and winds around you, mostly instrumental but with touches of sweet vocal here and there. The atmosphere created is dreamy and moody in the best way. Shockingly, even at over an hour long, the album never loses its appeal; feeling fresh and intriguing right until the end, it seems impossible that this is Pretend’s debut album.