September 4th, 2012 
Grace Duffy 
Artist: Again for the Win
Album: We’ve Been Here Forever
Genre: Alternative rock
Label: Deep Elm Records
Again for the Win are a curious thing, and We’ve Been Here Forever is a curious album. A good one, mind, but one that’s difficult to define and discuss. It’s very odd and mysterious and often quite bleak, but so filled with wonder. It sounds very much like something stolen from a dream, embarking as it does on a transcendent journey through reverie, distortion, and over-intensity before finally arriving at something more real and engaged and everyday. The band have quite an ambient sound, but there’s more harshness and bite here than you might first expect. For all their wayward daydreaming, there’s a caustic edge and rasping undertone that gives this album a brutal character.
Essentially, while it is quite stunning, We’ve Been Here Forever will make you work for its affection. It doesn’t slot easily into any structure or stereotype and there’s so much going on at any one time that it may take multiple listens to appreciate. Even at that, it’s not the most immediately enticing of albums – it’s not exactly rapid or catchy – and some songs go entirely awry after promising openings. But it does have a unique charm of its own, if one is so inclined. “Merkabah” opens with a long, protracted intro that sounds very abstract and strange. When the music kicks in, it adopts a rolling, languid feel with more than a touch of the epic and cinematic. The instrumentation is wonderfully diverse, adding atmosphere and depth. “Having Heard Sirens” is shorter, sweeter, and more personalised. The arrangements are beautiful, with wishful snaps of what appears to be a harp during the chorus and a more active vocal line.
The album takes a turn thereafter, removing itself from a world of wispy, ethereal tracks and infusing the music with something more cerebral and haunted. “Your Heaviest Light” is a murky and menacing number. A guitar solo stalks through it, eerily high-pitched, alongside disengaged vocals. The wall of instruments becomes ever thicker, creating an effortlessly bewitching musical number that hints at the twists and turns to come. “Nights Like These” has a hushed and wistful vibe. There’s a wearied percussive combination of drums and guitar, rumbling ominously throughout to make this sound quite climactic. It settles gradually however, fading out on a contented note and marking the album’s progression into something more tranquil and earthy. The acoustic double number of “Aspirations” and “The Lines above Our Heads” completes the transformation from searching to serene. “Aspirations” is fractured and wounded. Its barer sound gives it a more human feel than many of the dreamlike songs throughout the record. “The Lines Above Our Heads” is also tender, but the vocals are more passionate. Carter Francis sings with conviction over a delicate and easy rhythm that twists the song into something more of our world, removed from the reveries the record began in.
We’ve Been Here Forever sounds very much like a journey, as the band members move through flattened, brooding musical numbers that trade on uncertainty and insecurity. This does tend to affect its fluidity and make it sound quite erratic. Tracks like “Architects” sound too plain and ordinary next to the distinctive twang of the others, while “Guns” opens promisingly but comes undone with a messy and forced musical charge. Ultimately however, this is a compelling listen – original and peculiar, shapeless but clear. The band aren’t completely comfortable in their sound as yet but they do show a wealth of creativity and a flair for the dramatic.
SCORE: 8/10
Review written by Grace Duffy
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