the spirit that guides us – north and south

The stigma of “emocore”, a term that the spirit that guides us has never been articularly happy with, has now convincingly left behind. North & South is lively and raw and it rocks hard in your face.
Less shoe gazing, more fat guitars and freshness in the production, and convincing songs with the euphoric kind of choruses that were Superchunk’s and Sunny Day Real Estate’s hallmark (as in “class of 1998” or “eyes of a killer”). There are still enough different flavours to the songs, as in the acoustic “the final hour”, the introspective “concertina crash” and the maximum volume rock & roll of “all the way to the usa” and “accelerator”.

One thing is clear: the spirit that guides us have made a huge step forward. Heavier and more accessible than their debut without once resorting to clichés, North & South is a rock & roll record, yet it is still flesh and blood music in which the heart speaks.