By: Ross Edwards
Rating: 6/11

Because the Brooklyn band Growing is so atypical, it is difficult to categorize their sound. Growing’s suction of waves and pulsing ambient loops give the impression of swimming slowly through molasses. Helicopter patterns overlap and overlay with very little movement other than the swelling and receding drones, unrecognizable as instruments, but perhaps emanating from affected and looped guitars. It is slow, strange, interesting music, as through repetition pattern after pattern reveals itself.

The songs are not particularly long, “Anahelm II” being the longest at seven minutes, but the barrage of thick textures is sometimes overwhelming. On this track Growing repeats two notes steadily and simultaneously throughout different registers, surrounded by a haze of distortion. “Lightfoot” starts off with low rumbling, followed by seething waves of ambiguous, shimmering tones. For all its strange uniqueness however, listening to Growing through headphones is anticlimactic and unfulfilling. Growing is not entirely effective on its own, but one can imagine that played at 120 decibels in a crowded, vibrant room would be a more appropriate environment.