(Seattle, 12/17/07) Not many bands I’ve heard are better at setting this one certain mood with their music than Post Harbor is: The kind of dark mood that stirs you not to cry, but to reflect…on everything. Hailing from Seattle, Post Harbor still transcends all stereotypes that have been applied to Seattle bands. There is nothing on their mind but the over all feelings of these songs.

Songs like, The Color Red Not The Word, build an instrumental tension for around two minutes before any vocals begin to surface in the song. If you close your eyes and imagine a show, I’m confident you can feel how powerful a song like this is live. Bringing elements of Tool to the table as well as the ambience of bands like Portishead and Codeseven, Post Harbor definitely offers something completely new with their recently released, Praenumbra, which you can pick up at Cdbaby.com.

The cover of the album is mostly gray clouds…behind a gray building. And if gray were a feeling, it would be the feeling of this record. It is not vibrant, nor is it lifeless. It is detached and for that, I respect it. All too many bands haven’t a clue how to write music not specifically tied to a particular hook or genre.

Post Harbor’s music is beautiful and incredibly emotional. Some moments remind me of Sigur Ros…completely and thoroughly focused on each note as an individual part of the song. The title song, Praenumbra, for example, pits strings and sporadic drums against each other for only one minute and twenty four seconds, but it sums the record up well because…this record is not about a catchy chorus. It’s not about music that you THINK you want to hear. Instead, its music for the sake of music, for the sake of mood, for the sake of an emotion that is difficult to put your finger on, but you know it when you feel it.

I commend Post Harbor for this release and I look forward to a future release, perhaps of better production and sound quality. But I would take a record of below par production and sound with songs that are original and mean something over Fall Out Boy any day. Kudos, Post Harbor.

The Color Red Not the Word:

Praenumbra:

- By Erin Landers for The Stonewailer (Jenicid00@yahoo.com)

Erin Landers is a writer and musician who is very involved in New York’s indie scene and attends an average of three to four concerts a week.

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