La Dispute

Somewhere At The Bottom Of The River Between Vega And Altair

[3.5/5]

La Dispute’s musical backdrop is interesting enough-occasional handclaps, horns and all-but without the strenuous, stream-of-consciousness vocals from frontman Jordan Dreyer, their deliberate, literate post-hardcore methodology would be lost in a grand shuffle. Granted, Dreyer’s vocal style, pioneered by Moss Icon’s Jonathan Vance and practically perfected by mewithoutYou’s Aaron Weiss (a band whose influence invariably stains Somewhere, but especially “Fall Down, Never Get Back Up Again” and “Andria”), isn’t anything entirely new. But like another clear inspiration (At The Drive-In’s Relationship Of Command), Somewhere At The Bottom Of The River Between Vega And Altair succeeds on fairly cathartic cuts and dashes. La Dispute have delivered a corrosive yet melodic album that finds mild success in drawing something new out of the more creative components of post-hardcore, modern and otherwise. (NO SLEEP; nosleeprecs.com) Brian Shultz