"Eight years after an explorative post-rock storm that saw them tour the world, JAKOB are back. In an emerging swell, their forthcoming album Sines is a bold and splendorous return to the world stage after an extended pause. The album’s opening track Blind Them With Science erupts in into a cacophonous roar that, dare we say it, is worth the wait. Fans have waited for eight years for this record — with patience and passion, some believing that it might not ever arrive at all.
The long-awaited follow to 2006’s Solace has been equally as frustrating for the band, with multiple injuries impeding their progress and forcing the cancellation of a massive European tour in 2013. Injury and delay now a distant memory, New Zealand’s most formidable post-rock three-piece is now back in full swing and ready to bring their unmistakeable sonic texturing to their fans once more.
As on their previous three albums and two EPs, Sines is itself a force of nature, built upon lush, epic layers and deft movement; a journey that spits with menace and relapses into beauty in a fine return to form that will see old fans ecstatic and new generations of fans intrigued.
Sines is as much soundscape as rock-show — an echo of the expansive surroundings of the band’s native Hawke’s Bay, personifying rough seas and sweeping landscapes. Each element in the vigorous trio that comprises JAKOB is as essential to the wall-of-sound as its counterparts — Jeff Boyle’s lush and commanding guitar work spirals delicately before a wide explosion, the bass of Maurice Beckett growls and pulses like an electrical current, and the powerful surge of Jason Johnston’s drumming cascades between thunderous treatment, precise, driving beats and eerie silences.
An international effort recorded across oceans, between Auckland (Roundhead Studios) and Napier (Sister Lung Studios) with ISIS’ engineer Jono Gardner and Nick Blow, mixed by Jeff Boyle with pockets of guidance from the likes of long-time UK-based co-producer David Holmes, ISIS’ Aaron Harris, and Nick Blow, and mastered by Chris Chetland at Kog.
Born in the sleepy seaside town of Napier, Hawke’s Bay in 1998, JAKOB are a band of cult status here and internationally solidified as a post-rock outfit to be reckoned with, having toured Europe, the UK, Australasia and the US on the back of their last record. As their reputation continued to build they were twice personally invited to tour with American prog-rock heroes Tool throughout Australia and New Zealand, and toured along-side Damo Suzuki, frontman for seminal German psychedelic band Can.
A singular presence in New Zealand’s rock legacy and momentous figures on the international post-rock scene, comparisons to such timeless acts as Mogwai, Sonic Youth, Sigur Ros & ISIS continue. The sonic force that is JAKOB is alive once more, unbridled and ready to bring Sines to stereos and stages across the globe. Sines comes out October 21st on The Mylene Sheath."
