Ten years ago, Rolo Tomassi released their debut album Hysterics. At this point, their exuberant Nintendocore sounded like a fairground falling down a flight of stairs. And landing on another fairground. It was a joyous noise, audibly the work of plucky youths gleefully smashing musical boundaries. What it perhaps didn’t sound like was the beginning of something that would last the distance.
It’s both surprising and rather wonderful, then, that this band have evolved into one of this country’s most beguiling cult concerns, influencing the likes of Marmozets and Employed To Serve in the process. Along the way, they’ve constantly renewed and refined their art, culminating in a fifth album which shows just how far staggeringly their journey has taken them.
Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It opens with a rippling synthscape called Towards Dawn which wouldn’t shame any full-time ambient electronica merchant. Too long to be considered an intro, it leads right into single Aftermath, the most straightforwardly lovely tune to which Rolo have ever put their name. It’s not until the third song that heaviness rears its head on the crushing Rituals, a delayed gratification which only enhances both elements.