Not much more than a year ago, a tiny, unknown band from Texas put out their debut record Young Mountain through Magic Bullet Records, a 6-song, 36 minute disc originally only intended to be a DIY demo sold at local shows. It's fair to say that nobody could have predicted the year to follow, one in which THIS WILL DESTROY YOU went from local heroes to international darlings. The phenomenon took hold shortly after a brief basement tour of the west coast with labelmates SPARROWS SWARM AND SING. After a fun trip filled with good times and surprisingly large audiences (this was their first time out of Texas), the band returned home, unknowingly settling into what would become the eye of the storm to follow. Reviews of the album began to pour in, all singing unanimous praise. Even Pitchfork liked it... inciting a scramble for the record at retail and online (the band became one of iTunes' top artists in 2007). This parlayed into the THIS WILL DESTROY YOU being name-checked in publications like Rolling Stone and ultimately being awarded '2006 Album Of The Year' by Rock Sound editor Darren Taylor. 2007 saw even more growth for the band, as their music started seeing placement in everything from skateboarding and paintball videos to cable networks (VH1, Fuel, MTV) to independent documentary films and even major studio films. In one of the most bizarre events possible, the music of THIS WILL DESTROY YOU was present during a high-profile briefing and presentation before the nation's top military brass inside the Pentagon (yes, THAT Pentagon) concerning the failed efforts of Hurricane Katrina. Meanwhile, the band stayed active on the live front, stealing the show at a sold-out SXSW showcase and accepting an invitation to tour the U.S. with soon-to-be-upstaged-every-single-night FEAR BEFORE THE MARCH OF FLAMES. S/T is the second album from THIS WILL DESTROY YOU, clocking in a 7 tracks and 52 minutes. Recorded and produced by John Congleton (EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY, MODEST MOUSE, R. KELLY), it is a stunning and worthy follow-up to Young Mountain. Darker and seamlessly more dynamic and emotionally gripping than its predecessor, S/T is primed and ready to push their entire genre forward and continue to win the band hearts and minds across the planet. This is a landmark album by a band that will inevitably be mentioned in the same breath as MOGWAI and SIGUR ROS without hesitation. Dive in.
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