Website © 2003 by Tyler Carey
All Content Creator-Owned
Tristeza
A Colores
Better Looking, 2005
by Dr. Christian Carey
Although Tristeza founder Jimmy LaValle has decamped in order to focus on his Album Leaf project, the remaining members of Tristeza reconvene to make a strong recording, A Colores. The instrumental post rockers retain their ambient minimal approach to music-making, with some noticeable refinements. Ostinato chord progressions still are the bread and butter of many songs, but their voicings are more intricate and their phrasings more subtle. "Balbaristas" combines Reich-like phasing techniques with dreamy textures, while the layered guitars and undulating chimes on "Liquid Pyramids" create hypnotic swaths of lilting music. The band plays some stirring rock as well, as the strong rhythmic groove and chugging guitar riffs of "Bromas" attests. A Colores is a recording brimming with vitality.-February, 2006