Errors - Have Some Faith In Magic

On the face of it, Errors are a band I should probably already love, yet ‘Have Some Faith In Magic, the band's 3rd album, is my first taste of their instrumental electro-pop rock, and “pop” is certainly a phrase you could associate with moments on here. Of course, these days the word “pop” comes with negative connotations, which definitely don’t apply here.

Take ‘Magna Encarta’, the second track. A lovely layering of synths, met by echoing vocals and eventually erupting with the addition of the guitar. It feels like parts of 65dayofstatic’s We Were Exploding Anyway in its build up and explosive style and also in it’s accessibility. Music that can fall under the label of “post-rock” can tend to get lost in itself, but here it is controllled perfectly.

Important here is the variation in the music. For every dance-driven track such as ‘Pleasure Palaces’ and ‘Earthscore’, there is a beautifully chilled out track like ‘Blank Media’. Unfortunately, at times there isn’t quite enough to keep the listener as enthralled as wished. At 50 minutes, and with 6 tracks over 5 minutes long, there are moments when it feels like (as good as the music is) it does go on a bit. Opener ‘Tusk’ is good, but would arguably pack far more punch if it was half the length, and ‘Canon’ seems fairly redundant. Cut down by maybe 10 minutes, the power in this record would have been far more potent.

However there is clear magic (excuse the pun) here. Euphoric closer ‘Holus-bolus’ indicates as much. It’s accessible yet hugely musically intriguing (no easy feat), yet it does feel a little dragged out at times. It also struggles to get beyond that barrier so many instrumental bands do, that of being able to engage the listener emotionally. However, there are beautiful moments on this record if you’re willing to look for them, have some faith. 

7/10 
Sean Collison