Early Day Miners - Offshore - Music Review

Early Day Miners
Offshore
Secretly Canadian

Perfectly suited for winter’s bleak early nights, Early Day Miners’ moody soundscapes offer post-rock odes to the indeterminate grey of snow-covered cities. On their latest, the band re-imagines the previously released Offshore by adding it into a six-song cycle full of restrained melancholy devoid of highs or lows. Instead, the band opts for plaintive drums that plow through washes of pensive reverb white outs. While contemporaries like GSYBE or Mogwai eventually fall into cacophonous crescendos, Early Day Miners strive for a different payoff. Moving from the opening instrumental of Land of Pale Saints to the desolate Deserter and finally into the glowing Return of the Native, the band maintains a tight focus on tone, which underscores the subtle shifts in melody. This propulsive effect infuses Amber Webber’s lyrics “losing you to your desire, in rooms with ocean views” with aching vulnerability. On Offshore, don’t mistake subtle for slight. This brief song-cycle packs an emotional wallop.