Russian Circles’ Geneva is a tightly connected instrumental album from the Chicago trio of Mike Sullivan, Dave Turncrantz and Brian Cook. Sullivan builds guitar parts in looping layers, stacking lines that feel too busy for one player but never lose their shape. Turncrantz moves from clipped, forceful patterns to wide-open crashes with striking control, while Cook gives the tracks their weight through electric bass and bowed textures. The rhythm section often takes the lead, pushing the guitars into darker and heavier turns.
Released in 2009, Geneva runs as a single, continuous seven-track passage, with barely any space between Fathom, Geneva, Melee and the rest. Its post-rock scale is matched by a metal band’s sense of impact, but the arrangements are patient enough to let small changes in tone carry real tension. Greg Norman engineered the album at Electrical Audio, and Brandon Curtis of The Secret Machines produced it. Anyone drawn to instrumental rock that values structure, low-end pressure and carefully built crescendos should find plenty here, though the album’s strict forward motion leaves little room for detours.
