Just like any other band that plays challenging, scholarly calculator-core, A Minor Forest will be compared to Slint. It’s unavoidable, and in this case, well-merited, so accept it. But the late, great A Minor Forest pulled plenty of other techniques from their musical bag of tricks, which helped launch them to the top of Math-Rock Mountain. So, Were They In Some Sort Of Fight? swings frantically from a slide and cello-laced cover of Uncle Tupelo’s “Fatal Wound” to the furious, Shellac-y pummeling of “Cocktail Party” to a number of experiments with minimalist electronic beats. It’s almost like listening to 12 or so different but equally great outfits in one sitting. This double album of rarities, unreleased material, split single contributions, and other assorted odds and ends may seem overwhelming at first glance (22 songs spread out over 141 minutes-yowza!), but anyone who was ever captivated by A Minor Forest’s ability to nimbly snap from elegant string-filled beauty to ear-splitting discord spiraling out of control could tell you just how essential it is to provide a complete scope of the band’s broad range. Just make sure you have that abacus ready.... (erika)
[back]