Veteran CenTex instrumental combo This Will Destroy You continues putting its own spin on post-rock cliches with fifth LP New Others Part One. Chief composers Jeremy Galindo and Christopher King pursue a cinematic feel herein, creating a symphonic shoegaze that paints aural pictures in the mind’s eye. Guitars sound like keyboards, dissonance creates overtones that feel like string arrangements, and the songs indulge in the usual soft/loud dynamics only when it feels natural to do so. Thus, the shift in “Syncage” and “Weeping Window” from shimmering soundscapes to pounding doom feels less boilerplate and more organic. The psychedelic rocktronica of “Like This” and “Allegiance” comes off like soundtrack music to movies only Galindo and King have seen. “Go Away Closer” proffers the band’s strongest hooks, setting itself up to be a lighter-waving set ender. Tight musicianship and flamboyant songcraft show off an ambition beyond merely mastering the band’s chosen milieu. TWDY doesn’t reinvent the wheel here, but it definitely makes it spin like a dream.

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This article appears in December 14 • 2018.

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Michael Toland started writing about music in 1988 on the Gulf Coast, moved to Austin in early 1991, and has inflicted bylines upon the corporeal and digital pages of Pop Culture Press, The Big Takeover, Blurt, Amplifier, Austin.citysearch, the Austin American Statesman, Goldmine, Sleazegrinder, Rock & Roll Globe, High Bias, FHT Music Notes, and, since 2011, The Austin Chronicle.