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Dorena are a young five-piece post-rock act from Göteborg, Sweden. They self-released this record, which made quite a splash in the post-rock blogging world a few months back. I grabbed a copy, and was impressed. So i filed it on the Zune and left it there to simmer. I listen to rather a lot of music in the post-rock genre, and to be honest much of it starts sounding generic after a while; but every time a song from this release comes up in the Zunical music stream i am once again impressed with how solid Dorena's mastery of the form is. This prompted me to sit and actually give the record a concerted listen.
First up, let me say this: Dorena have not re-invented the genre of post-rock. If you have never been impressed by Mogwai or Explosions in the Sky, then you will probably not like this album. However, if longer, wandering songs with a plethora of guitar riffage are to your liking, then there is much to enjoy here. Dorena might not re-invent the genre, but they certainly show that they can do it very well.
They give us seven tunes in just under fifty minutes, which is pretty typical for the genre. The songs meander for minutes, with guitars moving in different directions (some tinkling, some effected, some sawing away) while the rhythms keep it all together and generally flowing in the same direction.
The ten-minute epic Till Varing Tretton could have come off of The Sky Is a Cold Dead Place, with its martial rhythm and slowly building guitar frenzy. Tiden Gick, Men Utan Oss starts with an almost Yellow6-ish guitar ambience, before building into a complex jazzy riffing a la Do Make Say Think. The standout track for me, however, is En Tonårsromans. Here Dorena blend some sparse guitarwork with a nice piano riff in a gentle meandering tune. This takes what Guthrie and Yellow6 are doing, and spreads it out among five people, giving such a tune that much more depth. Very impressive.
Overall, this is a very interesting release from a young band. I will be interested to see how Dorena and their music grow up, and what developments will occur along the journey. Holofon is a great start.
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