Big Big Buildings - Be Not Aglow

Big Big Buildings, the brainchild of Adam McElreath of The Okay Win, has released his first full length debut release titled Be Not Aglow. The effort is a highly experimental and creative one, and delves into a host of genres from electronic to indie that can be hard to decipher at times, but it all makes for an entertaining and thorough listening experience all the way throughout.

The disc starts off with "Soon..." a track that starts out with a sound reminiscent of windchimes before delving into a light piano arrangement coupled with a delicate acoustic guitar piece and Adam's passionate and melodic vocal abilities that make this song infinitely relaxing and a track that best describes the album's musical mission at hand. My favorite track off the album is "Hopefully Something", a full featured track featuring pure and melodic guitar riffs coupled with a slight electronic drumbeat heard in the background and Adam's introspective vocal abilities that provide for an extremely well constructed composition here that fully exemplifies all the talent that Adam is capable of displaying here. "Fishing For Wires" is a pure acoustic based number stripped all the way down so that you can see the bare bones approach that Adam takes with this track, and all the musical components that they're made up of that allow you to see all the musical elements put together like a puzzle piece. "Last Weekend" is a peaceful, laid back tune that is another acoustic based number but takes another approach to it and allows Adam's voice to be the focal point on this track, allowing the listener to focus their attention on another element of the song that contributes a great deal to the song's cohesive musical structure.

The second half of the disc starts out with "Tasteful Abandon" a breezy, upbeat acoustic number that peels out different facets of the album and allows the listener to experience a broad range of emotion, something that is really difficult for an album to do these days. "Landscape" is another exquisite track with earthy acoustic based melodies and Adam's comforting voice providing a soundtrack for a lazy Sunday morning or just plain relaxing any day of the week. The disc begins to draw to a close on "Implosion", a downtempo number with Adam's whispering and thought provoking vocals allowing the listener to begin to put everything together and see how all the musical pieces fit together. The album ultimately concludes on "Wilted Folklore", an expansive number clocking in at just over 9 minutes that offers up the listener a overall synopsis of all the sounds we've heard in succession of one another and the various emotions that all the sounds conjures up for the listener, some of them may be different for others but it all adds up to one terrific listening experience all the way throughout. I've had the pleasure of knowing Adam for almost 10 years now, and it's been absolutely amazing to see his progression as both a musician and as a person, and this effort fully captures the spirit and essence of who he really is when you meet him in person. The album almost reads like an autobiography of sorts, and offers us a glimpse of what he's currently thinking about as he's writing and performing these songs where the listener can fully grasp the musical language that he's trying to convey to us.

All in all, a terrific effort from Big Big Buildings, and one that takes us on a journey through Adam's musical persona and all the distinct and various elements that it's composed of and it really makes you know Adam as a person on a one-on-one basis, even though you may have never heard of him previously or met him in person.

                                                                                                                                Album Score: 4/5

Track Listing:

1. Soon...
2. Hopefully Something
3. Fishing For Wires
4. Crickets
5. Last Weekend
6. Tasteful Abandon
7. Slinking Down A Mountain
8. Landscape
9. The Great Implosion
10. Consolation
11. Wilted Folklore