Each track of Body Matter (Static Tension), the second EP from Kansas City’s A Light Within, is a notebook page torn from a collective, containing “substance of a person’s mind, body and soul while their time was spent on Earth”, and such depth of thought is born out in the intelligent post-rock aesthetics the band present along with the overall thematic arc of their music.

A Light Within are keen to inject genuine emotion into their art, and prove they are more than just a cerebral matter, with Kyle Brandt’s voice the most prevalent emotive vehicle.

Behind him is a mixture of clean, spacious guitar interplay from Jeff Irvine and Josh Bennett, and subtle, unobtrusive bass lines from Andy Schiller, who teases subtle grooves and works in and around the space left by Nick Sloan’s airy percussion.

Calling to mind the relaxed, natural unwinding of Kevin Moore’s early work with Chroma Key, and the more relaxed, thoughtful moments of Karnivool, Body Matter does fall foul, though, of that most abundant of post-rock barriers; the thin line between true transcendent inclusion and music that fades into the background.  Both ‘Page #22 – No Charge’ and ‘Page #52 – Between Shores’ begin promisingly, with shimmering clean tremolo picking and Brandt’s sensitivity, but with no proper dynamic to them, as with closing epic ‘Page #47-#48 Glaso’ whose stately chords, descending harmonics and sneaky bass line threatens to explode before introverting to a Tool-esque wind down, things meander to an unspectacular close.

A grasp of what post-rock is and does is only part of the trick, and while A Light Within intrinsically add a lilting melancholy and sensitivity to this understanding, what they don’t yet consistently do is add to this beauty the requisite reasons to invest in their music, because it is the songs that don’t quite measure up to everything else. Post-rock asks of its listener to invest; to give of themselves to the tides of the music, and despite some interesting detours, A Light Within currently offer good sections, but not whole songs, which leaves no real lasting reason to repeat the journey.

6.5/10

STEVE TOVEY