Special Explosion - To Infinity [Cassette]

Special Explosion’s second studio album, “To Infinity”, was recorded over the course of four years across the whole of the Pacific Northwest—from Northern California’s Panoramic House, Modest Mouse’s Ice Cream Party Studio in Portland, Chris Walla’s Hall of Justice studio in Seattle and the band’s own residence in Seattle. It’s an album that’s creation has strained relationships, overcome the delicate nature of ego and mental health during the creative process, and very nearly never came to fruition—and it sounds like it.

Shedding the more rough and raw sonics that have previously garnered the band comparisons to Built to Spill, The Thermals and Kind of Like Spitting, “To Infinity” instead harnesses a more controlled dynamicism in the vein of Death Cab for Cutie and more contemporary acts like Foxing and Big Thief. This album greatly surpasses their previous work. The harmonies and haunting yet beautiful, the instrumentals clean and full.