Thula Borah

Live Secretly

Self-Release

4/5

Okay, you'll have to allow me to spoil the end of this one for you – if you like Mogwai, you'll like Thula Borah. What's on offer is atmospheric post-rock of a slightly pensive pace that ebbs and flows with all of the natural metaphors that you can imagine, so I'll spare you the descriptions and do a quick track-by-track instead.

Track one, 'Organic Paranoia' is the most electronic of the EP tracks; akin to a slower tune from 65daysofstatic or Maybeshewill, it's a fittingly gentle introduction to the EP. 'Skye Falling', on the other hand is more of a traditional alt-rock song, with some pleasant washes of post-rock texture amid the Hum-like walls of fuzz.

'Murder' is perhaps 'arbitrarily' post-rock when compared to the EP tracks; though it's still great, you could graphically represent it by drawing a line across a graph, angled at thirty degrees – yes, it's one of those. '(Null Interface)' follows, and endowed with more of a verse-chorus approach to the dynamics, the heavy sections have rather more of an impact than as a 'logical conclusion' to the song.

Closing on 'Violence is Forever', there's once again a gradual build and huge release – but that's to be expected for the final track of a post-rock mini-album. Suitably cinematic in sweep, it nevertheless drives home the fact that if you're not a fan of post-rock you won't like this band; if you are, then welcome aboard. Thula Borah are certainly more talented than the majority of post-rock also rans, but make no mistake: their genre of music is under no dispute.