I\'ve been waiting almost a year for the Union Trade\'s debut album to come out, and it was definitely worth the wait! This is an essential for fans of shoegaze, post-rock, and just plain good rock music. The album starts with \"Self Possession\", which has all the hallmarks of the Union Trade that were established on their brilliant Now the Swell EP: Beautiful, haunting, shoegaze guitar, laid-back yet passionate vocals, and wonderful crescendos. The next track is \"Talk\", a dark, brooding track with more great guitar. \"Accident Prone\" follows, which is a beautiful slower track, and has a great ending. It reminds me a bit of the band Sinch, if anyone remembers them. \"For The Resilient\" is the fastest, heaviest song on the album, and has some great drumming. Up next is \"Strings Break\", and I have to say I liked the original EP version better. This one is still good, but it\'s too short and it sounds a bit rushed, whereas the original was more drawn-out and mesmerizing. The next track is \"Upstream\", which is one the most beautiful, epic songs I\'ve ever heard. This song alone is worth the price of the album. It\'s the epitome of the epic shoegaze/post-rock sound that I expect from this great band. The crescendo of this song is overwhelmingly beautiful, and I can\'t say enough about it. \"The Nights Are Getting Longer\" is basically a one-minute piano interlude, but it\'s still very nice. The album version of \"Violent and Beautiful\" is next, and like \"Strings Break\", I prefer the original. This also is too short and sounds a bit rushed. Still a great song though. The next two songs, \"Crescent\" and \"Like Minded\", are my two least favorite songs on the album. They sound like they\'re just filler, and they could have been done by any generic modern rock band. But the last track, \"Everyday Including Holidays\", is a great track which proves the Union Trade can write an instrumental song just as well as post-rock giants Explosions in the Sky. This song features a couple of beautiful crescendos, and it\'s the perfect way to end the album. All in all, this is one of the best cd\'s I\'ve gotten in a while, and despite a couple of mediocre tracks towards the end, this could very well be my album of the year! I highly recommend it!
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As emotional as it could get, “Everyday Including” is a transcendental album awash in guitar fuzzy logic and hugely catchy triumphs. Simply amazing and simply essential.
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