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MP3 At 3PM: Balmorhea

On the final note of Balmorhea‘s set at Saint Elisabeth Church in Ghent, Belgium, a reverberating snare hit bounces out into the holy stead, drifting lonely for the split second between the band’s abrupt stop and the crowd’s raucous applause. It’s a disarmingly powerful conclusion to “Untitled,” the sole unreleased track on the contemporary ensemble’s new album, Live At Sint-Elisabethkerk, available now as a digital download and September 6 as a physical release (both via Western Vinyl). Up to that point, attendees were treated to what is perhaps Balmorhea’s (pronounced Bal-moor-ay) most boisterous song to date, its string section leading a hopeful yet cavalry-ready charge as the remainder of the sextet builds a beautiful and undulating foundation beneath. Voices join the fray in just enough time to carry “Untitled” to its resounding conclusion as another crowd is pummeled by the still-young band’s ability to make contemporary music rock without invoking “the histrionics of their post-rock forbears,” as The New Yorker recently put it. Fortunately for us, Balmorhea is commemorating the release of the live collection by performing a string of shows in the U.S. starting August 29 in Kansas City, just before the band heads into the studio with John McEntire (Tortoise, Sea And Cake, Broken Social Scene) to record a new full-length.

“Untitled” (download):
https://magnetmagazine.com/audio/Untitled1.mp3