My soundtrack for reading in the BC library has typically been Tarentel's aptly titled singles compilation, Ephemera. Unlike their recent work, in which texture and atmosphere form the backbone of many songs, early Tarentel tracks (namely this compilation and the stellar From Bone to Satellite) build songs up from the smallest available pieces, whether a stray bit of feedback or a softly picked note, gradually forming sturdy, expressive post-rock songs and letting them evaporate into the original miasma. "The Waltz" might be the finest of these tracks, a crescendo so glacial one might not even notice the arrival (or departure) of the drums.

That said, the second track on the new-ish Tungsten74 album, Binaurally Yours (see comments section of previous entry), happens to be titled "Waltz." And you know what? It destroys that Tarentel song. Absolutely kills it. Everything that I've loved about Tungsten74 has been distilled into twelve-and-a-half minutes of psychedelic, progressive post-rock, cabinets stocked full of carefully controlled feedback and surging melodies. The biggest potential caveat for a shorter, digestable Tungsten74 record is that it risks crippling their foremost strength—a compelling tendency to wander headlong into huge expanses of sound—but "Waltz" represents the best possible result of this shift from the epic travels of the two-disc Aleatory Element. All I'm capable of doing right now is replaying the section from the 9:20 mark until the end of the song, over and over, jaw agape from both the locked-in groove and the swirling layers of its aching yet propulsive melodies. It wouldn't be fair to expect two full discs of songs this tightly crafted, but Tungsten74 is at work on another album.

I'm both mad at myself for not hearing this album earlier and thrilled that penciling in a spot for this record in my year-end list was completely warranted.