SPURV

Post-prog majesty from the mean streets of Oslo.

There are so many bands operating in that hazy realm between thunderous post-metal and beatific post-rock that it becomes hard to sort the wheat from the chaff. When a band of rare quality do emerge, the power of this kind of atmospheric, left-field, instrumental rock can knock you off your feet. Spurv are one such band and Myra is a triumph. With a sinewy rhythmic undercarriage ensuring that rock’n’roll’s physicality is never forgotten, these noise-laced bursts of reverb-sodden guitar worship repeatedly hit that tricky to define emotional sweet spot where it feels like everything and nothing are colliding inside your skull. The surging crescendos and urgency of the eight-minute Fra Dypet Under Stenen are particularly exhausting, but in the most satisfying way. An omnipresent wall of guitars powers Et Blekt Lys Lyder and dramatic opener Og Ny Skog Baeres Frem, but the Norwegians are masters of space and dynamics too, evoking the twinkling euphoria of the Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine. Best of all, the closing Allting Får Sin Ende, Også Natten is an extraordinary piece of refined self-indulgence that confirms Spurv as post-everything heavyweights.