part two: running from the forms of the sparrow in july

Ah yes. On Saturday night, some of us had the extreme privilege of visiting the Forms as they dreamily post-rocked the Beat Kitchen here in Chicago. When I get lost in shoe-gaze, the Forms find me. When I get bored with the (what ended up eventually becoming) conventions of grunge, the Forms reinterpret Nirvana's "All Apologies" into a meditatively wacked-out sort of beauty (yes - they really did cover "All Apologies" at the show). When I want to move to blatant and brash rhythmic grooves that switch back and forth between 5 and 4, the Forms hold it down. All of this within the context of 4 guys from NYC who just genuinely love to play music (it shows). Sometime in 2002 Anathallo played with the Forms in Pittsburgh at a place called the Mr. Roboto Project and ever since we've been friends and really big fans. The band had just recorded Icarus at the time (over 4 years ago!) and now they bring us their second self-titled full-length.


It was well worth the wait. The Forms brings... er... shoot... The Forms into a really full realization of the elements that made Icarus such a great record. That's not to say that the band is rehashing old territory (though some of the songs have been around for a while... I remember hearing them on the road). Instead, it's to say that the self-titled record presents the band standing in their own space, exploring different ways of arranging the elements... realizing that they "can't be what they are not." Instead, the Forms dig deeper into what they are... which, in the case of their new record, meant the freedom and sprawl of open tuning and major keys, new developments in insanely beautiful and bizarre vocal arrangements and a sense of travel pacing that invites you in with the first few tracks before releasing you into the second half of the record where you find some room to roam around in the compositions. Checkthemout, they're touring for the next few weeks!
Also - Matt (drummer) directed me toward this video clip from a collaboration he did with choreographer Spela Sterle:



radical.