Silesia

Editors’ Notes A tense yet expansive atmosphere pervades Silesia, the third album by Swedish post-rock quartet Jeniferever. Vast snow-capped crags seem to rise above misty ice floes as the band’s slow-building arrangements unfold; lyrics and melodies meld into textures at once granite-solid and moodily indistinct. Singer Kristofer Jonson floats above the tracks with a certain angelic detachment, though he sounds bodily pulled to Earth by the brittle urgency of “Deception Pass.” More typical of Silesia’s exalted grandeur are “Dover” and “Hearths,” defined by their chiming guitar lines and coolly sculpted melodies. Injecting needed rhythmic fire into the tunes is drummer Fredrik Aspelin, who lends a jittery pulse to “The Beat of Our Own Blood” and a clipped marching tempo to “Cathedral Peak.” The album has definite soundtrack overtones, with the title track suggesting Sergio Leone composing for a prog-rock orchestra. While much of the album feels austere, it is never forbidding — Jonson and his bandmates betray enough emotion to make Silesia seem an inviting place to visit.