Bad Vibrations

My Education play Mogwai-like post-rock like Mogwai never happened, all florid atmospherics and absolute patience toward big, cinematic payoffs. When these climaxes aren't hellfire electric guitars they at least swirl like hellsmoke ("This Old House"), but what separates the band from so many of its melodramatic instrumental peers is its equivalent focus on the five minutes preceding the climax. Thus, the listener is equally engaged by the lilting viola line sighing through "Arch," the sprightly drums and chimes of "Sluts and Maniacs," and the easy melodic lilt riding over "Britches Blanket" as by any of the electroshock finales they accompany. One wishes the band would read the possibilities of the genre as more than an exercise in dynamism, but there's pleasure to be had here — particularly when the band isn't stressing itself out trying to blow your mind.