They Can't Hurt You If You Don't Believe In Them // Post Harbor

Let me just tell you, the bio that came along with this album was just the album cover with the words “THEY CAN’T HURT YOU IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE IN THEM.” It’s so creepy looking, I can’t even begin to explain it. The first few tracks continue that feeling. The album is beautifully presented, and if you open the cover you could hang it up as art, because it already looks like framed art. They Can’t Hurt You If You Don’t Believe In Them is an almost an hour long sonic stroll through what feels like space and time because of it’s airy sound. It’s a great sophomore effort and I can’t wait to see what Post Harbor comes out with next.

It’s available tomorrow…do you believe in them?

PONATURI
Immediately starts out with tons of energy. It suddenly slows down a bit but the intensity is not lost. It’s the sort of intensity that is contained, like it were trapped in a small space, vibrating and waiting to be unleashed. Then, the energy returns, but it slows back down before you know it. What could be stop and start is gracefully ebb and flow in this instrumental song.

CITIES OF THE INTERIOR
I didn’t even notice that the song changed, it flows very well into this song. Very nice, haunting guitar melody. Electronic sound is strangely fitting. This song is so airy and haunting it almost makes my skin crawl. I really wouldn’t like listening to this album alone at night, it just feels like it would make me very paranoid and you’d find me in the morning with all the lights on. There are soft vocals in this song, and they almost don’t fit, they’re so unexpected. This song is over five minutes long, but it isn’t one that just drags on after the second half. It keeps the energy through the whole song, even during its pauses and slow sections.

SHIRAKASHI
I’m not a fan of vocal filters, ever, so it really automatically ruins any chance of my liking a song when they are used. So far, I am thinking that this would be a really good album to write a movie around so that it could be the soundtrack, the instrumentals on this album are amazing. The guitar almost sounds Brand new-ish to me. The ending guitar riff sounds similar to the riff that opened the album.

WITH A LINE GRAPH I CAN TELL THE FUTURE
The odd clicking sound it starts off with is not working for me. Finally, vocals I can hear that aren’t heavily filtered! The words are sort of hard to understand, though. There is a very complementary smooth violin sound. I really don’t like the clicking. Thank goodness actual drums kick in. The full band starts in slowly building the song up, adding a keyboard sound and distorted guitar. I like the vocals at the end of the song the best, but I’m not sure I like the abrupt ending. The rest of the album flows so effortlessly together.
THE END OF SOMETHING GREAT IS COMING
This is a very quiet song, with spare guitar and a talking background vocal. I love the rain sound. A very nice interlude.

ALIA’S FANE
This almost continues being an interlude and is another very slow moment on the album. Until high energy kicks in. Keeps up with the haunting guitar and smooth sounds. The keyboard toward the end doesn’t quite fit with the rest of the song and is kind of discordant, but it is quickly replaced by heavier guitar that picks up the energy in the song. However, the keyboard comes back and it still doesn’t fit. It’s actually really distracting.

AUGUSTINE
Anything would have sounded good after the keyboard going on and on. The haunting guitar seems to be Post Harbor’s strong suit. They also really know how to work the build up. I really like the repetition of the guitars. The vocals almost remind me of Copeland, but I still don’t like vocal filters.

CAVES, HOLLOW TREES AND OTHER DWELLINGS
I think this is the best song on the album. Heavy vocals, probably more vocals in this song than on the rest of the album combined. Haunting guitars, nice build ups, it’s everything they’ve mastered wrapped up into one song. I like moments like these when they stop tinkering and start jamming.

FOR EXAMPLE, THIS IS A CORPSE
Once again, I didn’t even notice the song had changed. I love the flow. This song started out as a continuation of the song before it, until it slowed down but still kept the heavy vibe. These are my favorite vocals on the album, very impactful. This song takes all of my favorite things about the album and combines them into one track.

INTRO
Very interesting choice of putting “Intro” last. Starts off with birds singing and piano here and there. Starts out very happy but then some of the piano notes make it sound darker. A nice ending, but I feel like it could have been a little bit better if there had been more music and more of their haunting vibe that the rest of the album had.
Bottom line: This is sort of one fifty minute jam session. The only major problems I see in this album are that some of the songs are just too long and that there is a heavy use of unnecessary vocal filters. The album has a very spacey vibe to it, and I think they should continue with that sound on their next album, but please, lose the vocal filters and add some more raw and natural vocals and I think it could be much better.