Review: you, infinite ‘you, infinite’

To understand the psyche of you, infinite, the debuting act from Texan natives Jeremy Galindo and Raymond Brown, you first need to understand the post-rock soundscapes of fellow Texan post-rock quartet This Will Destroy You. Galindo (guitars) and Brown (bass) were two of the band’s founding members, alongside guitarist Christopher King.

Having played with each other throughout high school, the trio solidified the line-up, growing from attempts at vocals before unleashing their full potential as an instrumental powerhouse, unleashing their first self-recorded EP Young Mountain in 2004.

After a difficult genesis for their eponymous full-length debut album in 2008, Brown would depart the band to pursue his medical career. Despite stepping away, he would continue to write music alongside his day job and these ideas were exchanged with Galindo, who was now residing in Los Angeles.

Over a period of three years between 2021 and 2024, the duo would work together with Andrew Hernandez, who recorded and mixed the album in the summer of 2024, calling upon the other current members of TWDY to round out the performances. The experience of the musicians added the necessary skills to turn the fledgling ideas into a fully realised entity that existed not only in a space but also called back spiritually to the original self-titled release.

Similarly, you, infinite can be a difficult album to describe in terms of a blow-by-blow description. They offer a heady palette of light and shade that can often defy description and have you thumbing through the thesaurus trying to find enough words to convey what is going on. The delicate guitar work and subtle textural shifts can blend into one, which doesn’t make for a compelling read, but that is no criticism of the album.

you, infinite creates an immersive world that pulls at the heartstrings and relies on complete surrender to the emotional gravity of the music. The album forms a complete experience that seeps into the subconscious and can, at times, seem fleeting or somehow incidental but brims with intricate details and refrains that call back to earlier moments that build an emotive response.

From the rising gentle hum of Focus On Reflection with its stately beginnings, this is an album that evokes mental pictures from the outset, like the dawn breaking majestically over a tranquil, verdant landscape. The slow, deep notes are pondering, taking their time and letting everything breathe before the shuffling electronic drumbeats join to lift the tentative strains. This light and joyful track bears some resemblance to the beautiful sounds of 40 Watt Sun (minus the melancholia) or, inevitably, TWDY.

a release that drips with understated beauty that is brimming with a rich and captivating style that paints an emotionally stirring picture in which you can lose yourself…

Lead single Throughlines is tender; the tinkling guitar and brushed drums sound like grains of sand being sifted on a tray as they usher in a shoegaze, shimmering strumming. There is an undeniable warmth to the piano, and even when the drums stiffen to a crisp snap for the heavier passage, the mood is not spoiled, anchored by the vibrating tremolo.

Cutter, like the longer running Understated, is light with an almost fragile feeling as the delicate notes trip and rise, floating with a flattering progression that builds like the anticipation of a held breath, before the release of the piano strikes with surprising catharsis.

Loop 20, Currents and Shine Eternal all share interconnected themes. The first, with gentle, scratching fingers on strings, works through chord developments to create a simple, stripped-back sensation, whereas the bright melodies and trilling harmonies of Currents conjures this emotion through bright arpeggios and the texture of the drums intertwining with the synths. Shine Eternal splits the difference with an evolving sense of drama that pushes the highs and lows further as it brims over with post-rock sensibilities that wistfully dance playfully, like light reflecting in the first bursts of spring.

Ending with the moodier feeling Dormant, you, infinite stamps with a more robust and darker feeling of urgency. Even the breakout moments of jangling guitar have an urgency that was not obvious on the earlier tracks. The more frenetic drums and cycling guitar loops feel more purposeful and less willing to surrender to wandering introspection. Despite this comparative feeling of tension, there is the same dense texture and attention to detail that has marked out the album, and as the track drifts to a close, you have to marvel at the sixty-five-minute journey the band has taken you on.

Fans of the duo’s previous work will lap you, infinite up. The striking themes that are shared between the two bands don’t make this project a mere curiosity piece but enables Brown and Galindo to reset their musical relationship and carry on the ideas that they originally bonded over without casting a shadow on the post Brown incarnation of TWDY.

This project brings together a continuation of that early songwriting dynamic but updated by time and circumstance to try and create something fresh, still informed by the same searching goals they shared nearly two decades ago. This is a release that drips with understated beauty that is brimming with a rich and captivating style that paints an emotionally stirring picture in which you can lose yourself.

Label: Pelagic Records
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram

Scribed by: Mark Hunt-Bryden