Storm Static Sleep: A Pathway Through Post Rock

by Jack Chuter

For ArcTanGent and Incubate, the post-rock emphasis subsided significantly in 2015. It’s difficult to ascertain why. The popularity of the genre hasn’t diminished – if anything, it’s only become stronger. My theory (and I’ve touched on it before) is that the hyperbolic quality of post-rock makes it difficult to stomach over and over again. Epicness is a fragile thing; familiarity kills it. If post-rock obtains its sense of scale through contrast with the music around it, having a number of post-rock bands back-to-back acts as a desensitiser. Through repeated exposure to the supposed extremes of misery and grandeur, the spectrum shifts. Post-rock begins to sound blunted and ‘normal’, its potency robbed through experiential familiarity. Perhaps the curators of both festivals realised this.