Every music scribe loves a band with a good back story, and
Wires Under Tension admittedly has an excellent one. Bandleader
Christopher Tignor is a techie (he's getting a Computer Science PhD and is a software designer for Google) with a background in serious avant-garde music (he's studied with and/or worked for composers LaMonte Young and
Paul Lansky), but he combined his interests in music and technology for his
Slow Six project. After
Slow Six was booted from its Brooklyn-based headquarters,
Tignor and drummer Theo Metz decamped to the South Bronx, where they began making music as
Wires Under Tension. Developing a new sound beyond the sway of Brooklyn's cool cachet, they put together their debut album,
Light Science. With
Tignor on violin, keys, and electronics, and Metz holding up the percussive end of things, the pair has created what might be described as post-rock for a new era. It's the kind of sound that wouldn't seem out of place alongside the instrumentally oriented work of
Sufjan Stevens, though the blend of propulsive rhythms and electronic tweaking places
Light Science in close proximity to the Battles camp as well. The feel here is that of a rock band -- at least in the loosest definition of the term -- especially when Metz digs into his kit and
WUT gets going on a groove. But
Tignor's musical apprenticeship in the avant-garde world shows through as well, and between the minimalist motifs, flowing violin lines, and brass interjections,
Light Science sometimes suggests the likes of
Steve Reich, LaMonte Young, and
Pauline Oliveros letting their hair down for a garage-band jam. ~ J. Allen