Tired Snow

With its 38 minutes of music, Tired Snow is actually closer to a full album than an EP, even by 2000 standards. This follow-up to Beans' first CD Portage (released on Zulu) is more focused than its predecessor. The band might have lost a little bit of its originality as its sound has crystallized into a post-rock style somewhere between Godspeed You Black Emperor! and Low: dreamy minimal melodies on dual clean electric guitars with electric bass and slightly sloppy drums with ambient sound/noise floorings. The first five tracks are short tunes (three to six minutes). The opener "Tired Snow" may be Beans' most Godspeed-reminiscent piece. It contains an excerpt from an interview the band gave to Canada's national radio CBC and builds to an orgasmic climax, but they achieve it within five minutes instead of Godspeed's usual 20. The album ends with "Alpaca Llama," a 16-minute piece that lingers on aimlessly until the band hits the closing sequence four minutes before the end. But then again, Beans shouldn't be viewed as a clone of post-rock's most successful band: the addition of singing brings another color and their rhythm patterns are more varied. Any fan of Godspeed You Black Emperor! should give this album some attention. ~ François Couture, Rovi