44.1kHz


  Unwound, Leaves Turn Inside You (Kill Rock Stars): Eight records in, mighty uptighty trio Unwound are still winding their way to the pinnacle of rockband, beating a scraping-and-scratching wailing-and-assailing taught-rock path through the screaming fields of sonic love, eyes set on a summit in which the collective can communicate as a unit of pure musical intuition. Over the two-CD set Leaves Turn Inside You, the journey brings them to an autumnal clearing, finding few clean-shaven moments of Fugazi-like stop/start-ism. Instead, Lund/Rumsey/Trosper ditch the black-and-white to work in weary shades of withered grey; fraying and diffusing their sound, coloring it with softer emotion; the studio is on hand as an artistic tool, not a mere means of reproduction. Maybe this is just me, but even in the record's most strung-out moments of tension and distortion, Unwound sound nothing more than soft and sweet. Pretty, even. — Anthony Carew



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