Well…you had me at “the founding members of This Will Destroy You.”  There are certain albums that have that first moment you hear them burned into your memory, and for me one of those albums absolutely is Young Mountain.  Even fifteen to twenty years after their debut and their lauded self-titled release, those albums are forever a part of me, and now we also have you, infinite, a new project reuniting the originators of the band on their own self-titled debut.  you, infinite is an album that celebrates friendship, legacy and tenure while still pushing the boundaries of a signature sound.

you, infinite, both the album and the band, exist across the boundaries of time and space.  Formed during the pandemic by Los Angeles’ Jeremy Galindo (current guitarist in This Will Destroy You) and Austin’s Raymond Brown (former bassist and keyboardist of This Will Destroy You) as a way for Brown to get back into recording music in between things at his medical practice.  As with all things pandemic-related, the fledgling project took shape as a collection of ideas exchanged in emails between old friends, but when the time was right, the duo took the next three years to come together in person to hash things out, until finally, in the summer of 2024, you, infinite was completed.  Joining the duo in the studio are all the members of This Will Destroy You’s current live lineup, making this truly a family affair, and lending that signature sound to the album that can’t be replicated or injected any other way.  And, of course, if you are a fan of This Will Destroy You, you probably already have an idea of what you’re getting, but I swear that that is a feature and not a bug.  Still, despite the duo hailing their debut as a modern successor to TWDY’s self-titled release, there are some subtle but effective ways they are pushing the boundaries of their beloved recipe: a bigger focus on keys and electronics, more dynamic percussion, and a larger focus on composition.  Still though…

To me, this is the kind of sound that will always hit me in the right spot, no matter what, and there’s really no other collection of people than these on display right here that do it any better.  you, infinite is a warm hug from Angela; it’s sweatpants fresh out of the dryer, it’s the smell of my dad making dinner for us growing up, it’s late nights into early mornings with my friends doing absolutely nothing without a care in the world.  Not to get all Marcel Proust on you, but there is something so comforting and familiar about the sound of the post-rock on display here, and it takes me to places that I haven’t been in years.  Brown and Galindo mastered a singular sound, and on you, infinite they pick up where they left off like the last 15 years never happened.  Lead single “Throughlines” is a perfect example of this kind of dynamic: it successfully straddles the ever-so-delicate line between nostalgia and pushing ahead.  Mostly though, it’s got the Three Big E’s that define Brown and Galindo’s work: electronics, e-bows and emotion, and that’s really all I need at the end of the day.  These tracks are gorgeous, jaw-droppingly stunning in parts, and the amount of attention to detail and restraint as the compositions build and grow in parts and go all out in others.  “The Elder” is a rare example of you, infinite jumping right in with downright crushing guitars at the forefront, hitting on post-metal vibes, before settling in for a delicate and highly moving build back up to tender arpeggiated chords over swirling synths and glockenspiel.

you, infinite is yet another example of an album that found me exactly when I think I needed it to.  Honestly, there was no way I was going to be disappointed in it, considering its pedigree, but it still somehow found a way to exceed my expectations.  Things being what they are, I don’t know when we’ll get another release from the project, but this will be a record that will join the ranks of its illustrious forebears in my heart for a long time to come.

— Ian

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you, infinite is available now on Pelagic Records.  For more information on you, infinite, visit their Facebook page.