If you’re looking for some modern prog rock that doesn’t just sound like an excessive amount of technical wankery, definitely give Kairon IRSE! a listen.There are four of them, with assistance in the studio from Andreas Heino (saxophone, clarinet), and make no mistake, Ruination comes from intense, meticulous performing and assembling in the studio. If I did drugs, I’d totally trip acid to this record. The progressive moments are great, and since this record doesn’t structure its songs traditionally until the last song, that song’s standard verse-chorus structure is so unexpected, it surprises me more than a twenty-minute jam with thirty solos could. The spacey atmospheres are wonderful, and while the music doesn’t sound like shoegaze for the most part, it also doesn’t sound like anything a shoegaze fanatic would turn off in disgust. Overall, Ruination is a pretty great album. “Ruination” follows something akin to a verse-chorus structure, and after five winding, progressive tracks, it’s refreshing to hear something that I could show to people whose tastes lean towards more accessible rock music. Of all the tracks on Ruination, this one is definitely the most straight-forward as a song (despite it being eight whole minutes). The album closes with “Ruination,” the title track. The instrumentation here blends together in a way that sounds very My Bloody Valentine-esque, but Kairon IRSE! still manage to bring in their own unique flair, as the psychedelic atmosphere does still carry over and make the album feel unified. Additionally, the band’s shoegaze roots are most prominent on the third and shortest track, “Llullaillaco” (even though the guitar intro to “Starik” does remind me a bit of “Only Shallow”). Though a lot of the playing on this record isn’t incredibly masturbatory like a lot of modern prog, the winding nature of the compositions beckons back to early progressive rock groups, and the saxophone (not to mention the subtle flute (or probably flute synth) at around the seven-minute mark “Porphyrogennetos”) and multiple time signatures on “Starik” do the same.

Of course, the progressive elements to these songs are just as important as the psychedelic elements. I really love the subtle polyrhythms that play under Melet’s vocals in this track they definitely contribute to the spacey, psychedelic atmosphere that this album has been toying with, and the synth-laden outro to this song is one of the trippiest moments on the whole record. There are a few time signature jumps before Melet starts singing again, and after his short verse, the same heavier riff comes back. The synthesizer melody at the start of “Sinister Waters II” is also similarly spacious, and it leads it this great jam of distorted guitars that sounds very heavy psych-esque. After the guitar line finishes, a section of spacious playing comes in, and a distorted guitar melody leads back into a repetition of the original vocal section and subsequent psychedelic guitar line. Right from the get-go, the guitarwork at the start of “Sinister Waters I” lulls me into somewhat of a trance, preparing me for a short section of Dmitri Melet’s vocals, which are followed by this incredibly psychedelic guitar line that both sinks into the atmosphere and jumps out on top of everything else at the same time. Though this album has vocals, to me the lyrics are completely perfunctory, as the album’s themes are best conveyed through the instrumentals and the vocal melodies. I’d had Kairon IRSE! hyped up to me as a shoegaze band, but I’m glad I got what I did, because this album is pretty damn great even if it isn’t shoegaze. I’ve seen their 2014 album, Ujubasajuba, lauded as one of the best shoegaze records of the 2010s, so when I listened to Ruination and found an interesting blend of space rock and progressive rock, I was thrown for a loop. Of course, that’s not really much of a surprise. Being a student at Berklee College of Music, I come in contact with tons of prog fans on a daily basis, yet the only prog album from 2017 that’s made a splash on my radar so far has been Kairon IRSE!’s latest effort, Ruination, and I haven’t heard a single thing about it from any of the prog kids here.

Kairon irse ujubasajuba review