Devil's Gate Music
Related Articles
Postures hail from Sweden’s second city, Gothenburg, which boasts a thriving underground music scene. This is the band’s second release, the first one having come out in 2013. Their time in between seems to have been spent gigging and touring, both in Sweden and Europe, which has served them well, as the rhythm and time signatures they are using requires both talented musicians, and a band that has a tightness only playing live, a lot, can give. At this point, I have to mention the rhythm section, David Petersson on bass and Isak Björhag on drums, as they, along with second guitarist Viktor Andersson, are the very important foundation that underpin the songwriting of guitarist Benjamin Watts and singer Paulina Nyström.
I have it on good authority, from a respected drum teacher, that the opening track, ‘Halucinda’, is in an 11/8 time signature. This sets the tone for the whole album, as Postures have decided to explore the outer boundaries of how to deliver a rock track. The whole band’s musicianship is immediately obvious, albeit kept understated, almost modest. There is an obvious deeper meaning to the lyrical content, even if I couldn’t find exactly what the angst-ridden vocals were singing about, the emotion and pain was well enough delivered that the actual words did not matter, I knew exactly what she meant.
There are so many nods and winks to so many different styles of rock music, I find it difficult to pin Postures down. Prog rock is the obvious first comparison, with more than a few ‘Rush’ moments, but in amongst it all are punk influences, straight out hard rock, and even moments of folk. Hints of Faith No More, Garbage and Evanescence, if you were to pin me down to just three.
‘Every Room’ brings the tempo down with some superb atmospheric acoustic guitar, and deep meaningful vocals. There are more than a few moments when you feel as though the band is going to kick it into full gear, but you are pulled back from the brink, and back into the calmness. We seem to be in a chill out section of the album, as ‘Wavemaker’ carries on the acoustic calmness. Both these tracks display Postures musical grasp in the art of creating meaningful music, and delivering it with class.
‘In The Dark’ closes out this journey of emotion, and shows yet another side to Postures. Almost blues rock done in a prog rock way… does that even make sense? It doesn’t matter if it does or not, as it works. Paulina’s full vocal range is finally set free, and she shows us just what a great vocalist she is. At last, I am feeling the passion and pain that was kind of there before, just never allowed to fully break the surface in the same way as it does now. Ultimately, I have mixed feelings about this album. In a lot of ways I have really enjoyed it. They are a talented group of musicians, of that there is no doubt. I just wish that there had been more of the passion and conviction I heard from ‘In The Dark’, as, at times, things came across a little half-hearted. I don’t mean to put the band down, as they have something good going on here that I hope will grow for them.
Review: Simon Larkin
]]>