History Invades - "In Vision Vanish Invisible"

History Invades - Post-Modernist Trap: The Stalker's Guide to the Universe (Lujo / Pish Posh of North America 2007)

History Invades - In Vision Vanish Invisible / Lujo / Pish Posh of North America

On a different point of the space-time continuum, Delusions of Adequacy introduced me to History Invades. "We Ran Out of Bridges So We Burned Down Our Houses" is a song title I'm still not sure is correct even now, but it singlehandedly led me like a horse to water to the band's album The Structure of a Precise Fashion. I'm not sure what it was (although the name always struck me as being pretty awesome, the result of some history grad's grand band plan), but the disco-meets-noise aesthetic was something I hadn't realized was missing from my musical diet; with the "Make room for computer know-how" refrain, I had also simultaneously discovered the band's modus operandi.

While other releases swamped me unexpectedly this past month, History Invades somehow slipped by. I say that because, as you can see above, the cover art is virtually impossible to miss. Thank the artistic brilliance both literal and figurative of Nigel Dennis for that: Also known for his work for Cherry Coke, XLR8R, and Nylon, Dennis has accurately captured the form and function of what the San Francisco-based group are all about: Ones and zeros. But on In Vision Vanish Invisible, the guys have taken what they've learned from Gang of Four and Autechre and applied it to what they've discovered from Boards of Canada. It's no longer just about blasts of noise emanating from an Italians Do it Better beat, but instead mood and ambient passages are constructed and deconstructed in a smoother fashion than on The Structure of a Precise, er, Fashion. Yeah.

So take for example one of the best tracks on the album and maybe my favorite, "I Speak in Imperatives: I Feel on Impulse." The vocals veer between chord-shredding vocals, just on the safe side of singing, and the wonderfully spacey sounds of the synths that generate a disorienting speaker sound. It's not the most instantly accessible (That award goes to first single "Intensity in Ten Cities") but it does capture how History Invades have changed. Instead of throwing every possible sound into the blender, the band is now experimenting with how to use all those tricks they had at their disposal the first time through the whole album thing. They're definitely a little smarter this time around, even if their song titles still border on the Red Sparowes A-list of annoying. Whatever, guys. The music is too good not to like.

Case in point: "Skies of the Times, Colonnades of The Modem: A Vanishing Synapses" is the concluding track, slightly more downbeat than the rest and thankfully tucked away as the concluding track. Indeed, while the titles may be frustrating to remember and the albums tongue-twistingly deranged, the music remains the strongest asset of the band. Don't let, say, "Of Transparency in Disposition; The Fear of Dilution Upon Reflective Eyes" get in between you and your love for In Vision Vanish Invisible. This band is still young enough to get so much better... But that they've already bested many bands on supposedly equal footing is testament enough. For all their faults, History Invades is still ascending to the top of their game. Don't let their third album creep up on you like their second crept up on me.