A Moment of Stillness


Band: God is an Astronaut
Album: A Moment of Stillness
Best song: The title track is perfect.
Worst song: It’s only five songs and all are great.

I’m not sure where to start or not to start here, other to acknowledge that I’m not much in the way of a writer, so whenever I actually deal with an editor on something I care about, I am reminded that I am not an editor. I sometimes fall in love with my own wording on stuff — in my job, I don’t do much writing, outside of some headlines and such — but because I write the way I talk, I get annoyed when an editor wants to change a non-hard news thing to something other than my original idea. Which, really, is just pompous. We’ll do it more straightforward, Ross. Your pith is not needed here.

Which is to say that I’m so so so grateful for the Internet and the ability to work through my own Web sites to write stupid reviews no one wants to read. Even though, really, I don’t have much to say, especially about records that are of little to no consequence.

That’s where A Moment of Stillness exists. It’s an EP from four years ago. From an Irish band most people don’t know. That I bought because it was recommended to me on Amazon and I had a gift certificate (I, like you, hadn’t heard of the band and thought they have a good band name). The Irish group isn’t a band I pursued after my love of this EP. I liked it. I listen to it. I don’t want more. I don’t know why.

This doesn’t often happen to me. I’m the kind of person who owns every Pink Floyd record, even the crappy, post-Gilmour ones. I have everything Death Cab for Cutie has ever released, including a dumbass split EP they did with the shitty indie band Fiver. I bought the fucking Shrimp Boat box set, people.

I think I realized that I don’t want to sully the great band with the awesome name. Maybe it’s because A Moment of Stillness isn’t superlative — post-rock often doesn’t rouse exciting feelings in people. I sorta feel the same way about Russian Circles and This Will Destroy You, good post-rock bands that I enjoy but don’t pursue.

Nevertheless, the title track from this five-song EP is sublimely good. It’s a near perfect post-rock song, as it tilts upward with an intricate guitar line, no vocals and a slow build. While I haven’t bought every record, I can wholeheartedly say that “A Moment of Stillness” is one of my favorite songs.

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  • About Me

    I'm Ross Jordan Gianfortune. I am not a writer, but I sometimes write here about music and my life. I live in Washington, DC.

    I used to review each of Rolling Stone Magazine's top 500 albums of all time. Now I'm writing about albums I own.

    My work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Gazette, The Atlantic, Sno-Cone and a bunch of defunct zines.

    You can contact me at rjgianfortune at gmail dot com.

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