On
Inventions for the New Season,
Maserati move simultaneously forward and backward away from their clear associations with the modern post-rock of groups like
Tortoise and
the Mercury Program and seemingly back in time to the progenitors of prog rock (
King Crimson, early
Rush) and especially Krautrock (
Kraftwerk,
Tangerine Dream). Their nearest contemporaries may be the prolific yet obscure Finnish outfit
Circle, especially their tendencies toward driving guitar/keyboard workouts in the motorik vein, as would befit a band named after the finest of Italian sports cars. These songs hurtle forward at an ever-increasing pace, which they rely on to build intensity rather than the standard quiet-to-loud dynamics of the post-rock genre. Actually, they're not alone in mining this realm of instrumental rock -- they also share with peers
the Turing Machine and
Ostinato the ability to sound elaborate without actually playing complicated music -- most of the riffs are built on simple, clean guitar figures augmented with chiming and echoing effects and building and expanding in their relentless repetition. Every track here is a stunner, especially the opening "Inventions" and the bass-driven
Floyd-ian barnburner "Show Me the Season," culminating in a peak with the tongue-in-cheek nod to
the Police's brief foray into progressive rock, knowingly titled "Synchronicity IV."