Coptic Light - Coptic Light (CD)

All Music Guide

Coptic Light deftly fuses improvisation to postrock on this selftitled release for No Quarter. Drummer Kevin Shea (exStorm Stress), guitarist Jon Fine (Bitch Magnet, Don Caballero), and bassist Jeff Winterberg (Antioch Arrow) clearly have improvisation in mind with these three lengthy pieces. But they're intuitive about it, letting soupy bass lines stretch over the insistent, tense drumming so that Coptic Light sounds not like static and chaos (i.e. Hella) but the studied feel of '90s postrock. Postrock, that is, with welltimed stabs of volatility. (Shea in particular can drive up your heart rate with just a few flurries of cymbal.) The set is strong throughout, always with a muscular feel but able to suggest introspection, too. "Mix the Races" alternates climaxes with stretches of drift until Fine's garbled guitar signature diminishes over the descending twonote bass line. "Horse" is moodier, an evergrowing shadow. But after Coptic Light's softer middle, "Eat It High School" hits har...d with a manically compressed intro that culminates in some rewarding rock windmills. The track's second half is the comedown, and its gentle descent is streaked with grit like sunsets over the city. - Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide Read more Less