Pleiades – Affinity Within | Album Review

Post-hardcore has long been laboured with a reputation for stereotypically being a vessel for boring dudes to lament over their equally boring love lives. The eagerly awaited debut from Pleiades is a welcome respite from that.

The Manchester group’s debut LP and the follow up their fantastic 2019 EP All At Your Mercy, Affinity Within disregards the dull and strained lyrical conventions of the genre aforementioned to instead focus on the lives and stories of others far removed from the band. Instead of being comprised of songs detailing mundane tales of love lost, this body of work explores the lives who have experienced the human condition to it’s most extreme extent. It’s a record that, for example, weaves the tales of the 18th century Russian emperor Alexander I and his escape to self-imposed exile, and the story of Amos Clift, a lighthouse keeper who witnessed how sociocultural issues escalated to starvation and open gang warfare in 1800’s San Francisco. This inspired subject, combined with Pleiades driven and expressive take on the genre, makes for a record that truly explores what it truly means to be human in a form utterly driven.

Sounding akin to impassioned monologues delivered with the sense of breathless urgency that mirrors one’s final moments, ‘Honeyguide’, ‘Siberian’ and ‘Stomach’ open the record with both haste and composure in equal measures. As vocalist Andrew Calderbank details the tales of the characters each track explores through a first person perspective, one immediately resonates with the inner-conflict, anxiety, fear and mental turmoil of these individuals. Granted, like said, post-hardcore has long been a genre reserved for making the listener sympathise with the emotions being expressed, but here, such emotions are tangible and infectious. Even with Calderbank placing themselves in shoes belonging to other people – the majority being vacant for centuries – they deliver a performance that just resonates passion and urgency, fully emphasising the emotional vitality in these stories.

Yet despite their phenomenal performance, it’s the band as a whole’s brilliant and influenced approach to the genre that truly highlights the nuance and entangled flaws and merits of the human condition. Once again forgoing tested convention in order to embrace motifs beyond the once presumed rigid parameters of the post-hardcore sound bracket, elements of post-metal and more exotic sounds are incorporated into this record with finesse and apt chemistry. In fact, as heard within the frantic turmoil of ‘Universal’ and the unchained sprawling progressive sensibilities of ‘Honeyguide II’ – one of the most engaging tracks on this record – Pleiades utilise a whole pallet of genres in order to flesh out the tenderness and rage that works in tandem within this record.

Truthfully, with Calderbank’s vocals fluttering with composure and charm, there’s almost moments in this record that resonate the wistful complexions of the poignant Death Cub For Cutie; but in turn, they are balanced as they fluidly morph into barrages of frothing progressive hardcore resentiment of the likes of Birds In Row. ‘Tongue’ and ‘Universal’ present this fluid approach to songwriting wonderfully, and stand as testaments to this band’s unshackled approach to songwriting and expressing emotion, ensuring such musical tale are as detailed and riveting as the characters that lived them originally.

In all, not since the work of Defeater has one seen conceptual post-hardcore this accomplished. With a lyrical subject as inspired and boundless as the band’s approach to this genre synergising with a profound sense of impassion, Affinity Within is a wonderful body of work that has established Pleiades as one of the most well articulated voices in post-hardcore.